A DOG was left needing emergency surgery after two discarded fish hooks were left on Bournemouth beach.

Elizabeth Katherine had to take her miniature Cockapoo for emergency surgery following the incident that occurred between Bournemouth and Boscombe Pier on Friday, October 15.

At around 8am during their daily walk along the beach, Elizabeth noticed two-and-a-half year old Flo wasn’t walking properly.

As she approached for a closer look, Elizabeth told of her horror as she saw two hooks and fishing wire tangled around Flo’s legs.

She said: “I was crying, I just felt completely powerless.

“I couldn’t even hack at it [the fishing wire] with my car keys and then my other dog poor Winnie got tangled around the wire and one of the hooks got caught in her mouth.

“At this point the dogs were just crying and howling, I started getting really upset - it was a nightmare.”

Unable to free her dogs from the fishing hooks and wire, Elizabeth had to make an emergency appointment at her vets in Branksome.

She said: “I had to call the vets straight away and tell them what happened - the dogs were so distressed by it and it was so stressful.

“I took them down to the vets straight away which meant I also couldn’t work for half a day.

“The vets had to sedate and operate on Flo to get the hooks out and she was given antibiotics too - it ended up being a rather expensive dog walk.”

Having lived in the area for more than five years, Katherine is used to making the most of the beach and walks her dogs twice-daily along the same stretch.

She said: “It was just terrible seeing my babies in distress and in pain - I just felt powerless in the situation because I couldn’t help.

“I go down to the beach twice a day, every day, with the dogs. It's our haven and we just love it.

“Since the accident we haven’t been back to the beach - I’ve heard of this sort of thing happening a lot recently and I just can’t risk it happening again.

Looking back on the incident Elizabeth wants to urge other beach users to think carefully about how their activities can impact other people’s lives.

Katherine said: “It’s difficult because I don’t want to blame anyone and I understand that accidents happen.

“I’d just like to urge all beach users to be a bit more thoughtful in their approach to beach activities because one mindless act can have massive consequences for someone else.”