The City of New Westminster has taken action to deal with an accident at a local dog park - and to ensure similar incidents don't happen again.
Sheila Li and Yutian Zhang had taken their yellow lab, Nero, to the Agnes Street dog park at about 7 p.m. on Monday, but the off-leash fun ended when the dog ran near a bolt. A large protruding bolt sliced open the dog's skin, leaving Nero bloodied.
Li and Zhang were alerted to his injury by Nero's agonized loud moaning noises. Zhang lifted the bleeding pet and ran with him to the vet. Zhang's clothes were covered in blood, and the couple feared the worst.
"My girlfriend was praying," Zhang told The Record. "She thought he would die."
But the dog came through and is now recovering at their Royal Avenue condo.
"He can walk now and eat," says Zhang.
The couple, both international students from China, had to pay a $560 vet bill. They planned to phone the City of New Westminster to let staff know what happened because they don't want another dog to go through what Nero did.
"It's really scary, because that screw is really long, and this time it (hurt) my dog's back, but maybe next time it will be a dog's eyes," Li says.
The downtown dog park is located at 824 Agnes St.
Blair Fryer, the city's manager of communications and economic development, said city staff attended the park as soon as they learned of the incident.
"The bolt was inspected and fixed as soon as we heard about this," he said. "The departments are putting new protocols in place to monitor off-leash dog areas. We take it very seriously."
Fryer said the city is conducting inspections of all dog parks in the city to ensure similar situations don't exist in those facilities.
"We don't think there are, but we want to make doubly sure," he said.
Fryer said the city will also be contacting Nero's owners and asking them to file a report, so the city can pay Nero's veterinarian costs.
