ALERT: Dog owners warned as beloved labradoodle ingests cocaine at popular walking spot

A local resident has urged Wicklow and Dublin dog owners to be vigilant and avoid a particular Bray location after his pet ingested illegal drugs which had been left on the ground.

Ian Bolton, a Bray resident had been out for a morning walk with his wife and their pet labradoodles Sailor and Maisy in Raheen Park, an area just below the Bray Head walking route that has become popular with rough sleepers. 

Bray Head and the surrounding areas are also hugely popular dog-walking spots.

Speaking to the Independent, Ian described how his his dog Sailor fled into the park and began scouring the bushes to explore the “rubbish being thrown there”.

The dog was reportedly gone for “literally about two or three minutes into the bushes”, Ian said, and when he was retrieved he was he was put straight back on the lead and the couple continued their normal morning walk with their pets.

Only a few hours later in the afternoon, Sailor was found unresponsive by her owners in the landing of their home, and was quickly rushed to hospital by Ian.

Once the beloved family dog was brough to the vet, the shocking discovery was made.

“They tested him and found two Narcotics in his system,” Ian explained. “This 100 per cent happened from what he ingested in the bushes earlier that morning”.

Sailor had ingested both cannabis and cocaine, but Ian explained that “thanks to a wonderful Vet team he's going to be fine”.

Speaking to the Independent, the dog owner explained that the marijuana reportedly “counteracted the cocaine”, as the vet told him “if it had been just cocaine, he would have been in a whole world of trouble”.

The dog owner is now calling again for the local authority to investigate the area, which has become popular with rough sleepers, after he had warned of “an accident waiting to happen” just three weeks prior to his dog becoming dangerously sick.

Multiple tents have been set up near the park in recent weeks, which Ian had flagged with the local council due to safety concerns.

“I literally just said this is an accident waiting to happen for a dog owner, and are you going to be responsible? You know, pay my vet bills if something happens to one of my dogs? If I had been a kid, if it had been a smaller dog, they probably wouldn’t have been able to handle it.”

Local gardaí were also informed of the incident by Ian.

READ NEXT – ‘We never got to say goodbye' – Tributes paid after young man tragically found dead on Galway road