A Donegal college student is carrying out hugely important research into dog attacks and is looking for bite victims to contact her.
Tara O’Sullivan is a final year veterinary nurse student in Letterkenny Institute of Technology.
As part of her final year project she is researching the link between breeds of dog and their likelihood to show aggression and bite.
Tara is gathering quantitative data to assist her in her research, and asks people from Donegal who have ever been bitten by a dog within the county to share their experience in a quick, confidential survey.
She explains “Ireland has restricted dog breeds in specific legislation on the control of dogs. Despite these laws, the number of human hospitalisations due to dog bite attacks in Ireland has grown significantly. There has only ever been one recorded death in Ireland due to a dog attack and that was of a young girl in the 1980s.
“I am researching into whether the legislation is really working, whether it should be amended and what else can be done to prevent further incidents and possible fatalities in future.
“I would really appreciate if anybody from Donegal could answer my survey (it should only take a few minutes and is completely anonymous).
“My survey questions are specifically centred on the county of Donegal, as an “all of Ireland” survey has been tried and tested before and takes over a year to have a fair representation of the whole country.
“If you or anyone you know from Donegal has ever been bitten I would greatly appreciate if you could fill in and even share my survey.”
If you would like to help Tara with her research and fit the criteria you can do the survey by following this link:
https://surveyplanet.com/5898be4096a3070c7f3db106
