Published: Thursday, 23rd November, 2006 12:00pm

Dog snared – by an elastic band!

by Newsdesk

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A FURIOUS dog owner says his beloved pet has been left with horrific injuries after an elastic band got tangled around its neck and created a 'snare'.

Ten-year-old Rosyth mongrel Max was left with a deep four-inch gash after the rubber band wrapped tightly around his neck and broke the skin.

Shocked owner Ewan Flynn (33) doesn"t know if sick yobs wrapped the band around Max"s neck when he was unattended or the dog got tangled in it himself during a walk.

But the TV production student says the red band is the type normally used to tie up mail and thinks it was dropped by a careless postman.

Ewan, of Burnside Crescent, only noticed the injuries when he stroked the dog as he watched the TV last week.

He said, 'I was just sitting on my bed and the dog jumped up on me. I went to rub under his neck and it was all wet and sticky with blood. I looked down and from one side of his throat to another was cut because of this elastic band.

'It had been going backward and forwards and has almost slit his throat. It is like a noose or a snare and it"s pretty nasty. It is like somebody has taken a razorblade to him and looks really sore.

'He had only been out in the garden that day so I don"t know where it came from. Either a kid has found it and put it on the dog or it"s been hanging on a hedge or something and the dog has snared itself. He has been left totally scared. He jumps at the slightest little thing now.'

Max had to have his neck shaved so a vet could clean his wounds and is on antibiotics to ward off infection.

Ewan is fuming after being left with the £120 treatment bill and he places the blame squarely at the door of Royal Mail"s postmen.

He added, 'I have been at the Post Office and phoned their customer relations department and they just bumped me off saying I can"t prove it.

'These elastic bands are dangerous and they should dispose of them properly. But you see them lying about in the street and my dog has been severely injured here.

'I think they have just been reckless but they"re saying they are not liable. And I am going to have to dip into my Christmas money to pay for the treatment and everything.'

Royal Mail say the bands, which are coloured red to prevent them being lost, 'have a habit of flying off at times'.

However, a spokesman said, 'Royal Mail is in no way responsible for the unfortunate injury to this dog. If a rubber band was around the dog"s neck, the person who put it there is responsible.

'Royal Mail makes every effort to prevent the rubber bands that are used by its postmen and women from being dropped.

'Occasionally in the course of deliveries bands do get dropped, but this does not explain in any way how a rubber band was put around this dog"s neck.'