Two dogs died just a few weeks apart after colliding with metal rugby pitch barriers in a Cardiff park. The shocking incidents, which occurred independently of each other in Moorland Park in Splott, have prompted a petition by a local resident to try and get the barriers removed.
Hundreds have already signed the online appeal, which you can see here. It was created by 25-year-old part-time student Kate Jones, whose housemate Siobhan Artigan's greyhound, Jet, suffered severe injuries to his chest on February 3 and had to be put down.
Regular users of the park claim the barriers, which border the rugby pitch in the middle of the field, are "dangerous to dogs and small children". They have been compared to "scaffolding pipes" and described as "rock solid".
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The barriers are owned and managed by Old Illtydians RFC, who declined to comment. However, Cardiff council, the landowner, told WalesOnline it will be "discussing these incidents with the club and the WRU" and urged dog walkers to "take care around these types of structure".
Recalling the day of the accident, Siobhan said she was walking Jet in the park at dawn - something which she had done for years. As he ran towards another dog he knew in the park, he crashed into the barriers.
Siobhan said it wasn't the first time it had happened but on this occasion Jet "just collapsed and was crying in pain". He was rushed to the vets and it was found he had sustained severe injuries to his chest - to the extent Siobhan said it was "completely deflated" and "his lungs were not filling with air".
He sadly had to be put down due to his injuries. Jet, who had no known problems with his eyesight, had last been to the vets in January, said Siobhan, who is also 25 and works in recruitment.
She and Kate said the placement of the barriers was their main concern. Kate believes they are in "a really awkward place" right in the middle of the park, making them difficult to avoid. "I know of a few children as well in the summertime who have bumped their heads because the barriers are quite an odd height," she claimed.
Kate contacted local councillors on the night of Jet's death in a bid to raise awareness of the issue. "I was just so angry, thinking if those barriers weren't there we'd still have Jet with us," she said. But while she was liaising with the council, a second dog died just over three weeks later. "It's just really frustrating - if they had done something about it sooner, the other dog would still be with his owners," claimed Kate.
On February 28 David Warr's dog Merlin, also a greyhound, snapped his neck on the barriers and died on impact, within just minutes of entering the park. David was walking Merlin in the park at around 6pm - as he had also done for years - and says, like Jet, the dog had never had problems with his eyesight. “Merlin could see a treat across the park," said David, 65.
He recalled that Merlin was playing with another dog in the park before he fatally caught his head on the barriers. He is also calling for the barriers to be removed, as he believes they are not very visible and unsuitable for use on a rugby pitch.
He said: "From a distance, you can't see the barriers. Humans can't see the barriers. What chance has a dog got when they don't see in glorious colour? They really aren't visible. We take our grandchildren over - imagine if one of them was running up and walloped their head."
He claimed that the poles which form the barriers are not even, and says some of them are different heights in some places than others. He claimed: "They're dangerous to dogs and small children. We've said that they were dangerous all along. I mean, who the hell puts scaffolding pipes around a rugby ground? It's not a soft barrier, it's scaffolding poles. They're solid, they're rock solid.
"I don't see why [the rugby club] can't do what they used to do, which is just string the pitch off when there is a match, because it's not as if there is going to be a pitch invasion - there are only the families that go over there and watch the rugby. It's not as if people flock to see their matches and they're going to be pitch invaded by a crowd. It's hardly for that sort of reason. It was ridiculous - the minute they went up we were all up in arms about it and nobody seemed to listen.
"Seriously, if I had an angle grinder, I would've gone over and chopped them all down. I was so upset Tuesday [Febraury 28] night, I was half tempted to take my dog's corpse to [the rugby club] and put him on the table and show them what they've done. Once is a freak accident, twice is an accident waiting to happen. They're solid steel pipes, they're what builders use to be scaffolding up. They're not made for rugby ground barriers."
A spokesperson for Cardiff Council said: “We were shocked and sorry to hear that two dogs have died following incidents in the park related to a pitch barrier and we understand completely the distress their owners must feel. This accident is not something we have heard of occurring in the past.
“The pitch barriers are owned and managed by Old Illts Rugby Club. The barriers surround the pitch and are commonplace across Cardiff’s sports pitches and throughout Wales. We understand they are a requirement placed on some clubs by the sports’ governing body.
“The council will be discussing these incidents with the club and the WRU. In the meantime, we would advise all dog owners to take care around these types of structure, to prevent any further accidents and ideally stay away from sports pitches altogether.”
Old Illtydians RFC declined to comment. You can sign the petition to remove the barriers here.
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