Dog vs. Stingray

Judging by the volume of e-mail we receive here, it seems that pet owners who don’t have a story about an unusual pet mishap should consider themselves lucky. One of our latest reader-submitted stories highlights the fact that unexpected pet accidents aren’t limited to the home, or even the back yard. Sometimes, pet mishaps span land, sea and air.

Our story comes from Chuck Limroth of Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Chuck was captaining a boat in the Bahamas when he and his wife Wendy came across Lucy, a 1-year old German shepherd and Siberian husky mix that was up for adoption. The couple was looking for a pet and decided to take Lucy back home to Florida.

What they weren’t told was the reason Lucy was up for adoption—it was for her own protection! While living on her former owner’s private island, Lucy had developed a knack for catching small lemon sharks in the mangroves. On two separate occasions she had to be flown off the island and treated for shark-bite related injuries. Her owner realized it was just a matter of time before Lucy was more seriously injured as a result of her “fishing” activities. The owner had Lucy taken to a nearby harbor and hoped for her own safety that she would be adopted by a tourist.

Over the next few years, the Limroths took Lucy with them on vacation and on one occasion, they were in the shallow mangroves of an island when Lucy jumped out of the boat (without permission) and began chasing fish. She ended up flushing out a baby lemon shark that was able to elude her. After the shark escaped to deeper water, both Chuck and Lucy spotted a nearby stingray. Before he could say “leave it” Lucy pounced on the stingray. The stingray plunged its venomous, barbed tail directly into Lucy’s neck, causing so much bleeding the Limroth’s thought an artery had been severed.

What happened next was an amazing example of people coming together to help an injured animal. Lucy was taken by a small boat to Staniel Cay and was seen by a local nurse and local paramedic who advised that Lucy needed advanced medical aid at a larger facility. Another local resident called her husband, a pilot, who was about to take off from the nearby airstrip. He canceled his flight and waited for Lucy to be driven to his plane by another resident who volunteered their golf cart to help. She was flown to Nassau where she was met by a vehicle at the airport and transported to an animal hospital. She was immediately taken into surgery and received vein and capillary cauterization to stop the bleeding. The surgery was a success and Lucy was discharged soon afterward. You can read a minute-by-minute account of the ordeal, and a tribute to the many helpful local islanders at this site.

Within two weeks of the surgery, Lucy was back to her old self and showed ill effects from her close call with the stingray. The Limroth’s eventually met Lucy’s original owner and learned more of her violent history with sea creatures. They are now even more careful when taking Lucy anywhere near the ocean. As for Lucy, she still loves getting in the water whenever possible, but only when the biggest thing around is a blue crab. To which Wendy said “she’ll probably get her eye pinched out” Let’s hope not!

Obviously, no one expects their dog to be attacked by a stingray, so I asked Melanie Monteiro, a pet first aid instructor and author of “The Safe Dog Handbook” for some tips on what to do if you find yourself in a similar situation with your pet.

1. Control heavy bleeding: The first priority is to control the bleeding. With clean hands or gloves, use a clean absorbent material such as a gauze pad, T-shirt or towel to apply direct pressure to the wound. Elevate the wound above the heart if possible.
2. Flush the wound: If the wound is not bleeding heavily, flush it with fresh water to wash out any foreign objects and clean it if possible with soap and water or a povidone-iodine solution such as Betadine.
3. Seek immediate veterinary care: No matter how minor the injury may seem, a wound from another animal can be dangerous and requires immediate veterinary care. Your dog will likely need antibiotics to prevent a bacterial infection.