Is this grim sight THAT common?

[DShK]

Bit of a sad/dark question for you all. Do you find dead dogs in the canal often? I've come across three so far this year 😔 Am I just unlucky or is this about typical? I wonder how they met this fate - are they boaters dogs or lost dogs that fell in the canal and couldn't get out (they've all been fairly small).

 

Who is best to inform about it when you come across this?

[magnetman]

Are you sure they are dogs and not foxes? 

 

I've seen a lot of dead mammals over the yars but only three with collars on.

 

I suppose some of the others may well have been dogs but it can be awkward to tell the difference with small animals. 

 

 

[Guest]

Once found a litter of new born pups in the T&M, bagged up and drowned.

 

 

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

Yes I often see what I think looks like a dead dog, usually bloated. 

Never thought to inform anyone, something will help eat or rot it away. 
I’ve had to push the odd one out the way from behind a lock gate.

 

 

 

[ditchcrawler]

13 minutes ago, Goliath said:

Yes I often see what I think looks like a dead dog, usually bloated. 

Never thought to inform anyone, something will help eat or rot it away. 
I’ve had to push the odd one out the way from behind a lock gate.

 

 

 

Sheep, lambs, badgers, foxes rabbits and once a horse.

[DShK]

Fairly sure they were all dogs. Latest one was definitely a chihuahua. I suppose one could have been one of those small deer you see now and then - forget the name.

 

25 minutes ago, M_JG said:

Once found a litter of new born pups in the T&M, bagged up and drowned.

 

 

 Jesus I just don't get why someone would do that?? that's horrendous.

 

7 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

Sheep, lambs, badgers, foxes rabbits and once a horse.

A horse?! That must have been quite the obstacle....

[magnetman]

Muntjac could be misidentified as a dog.  

8 minutes ago, DShK said:

 

 Jesus I just don't get why someone would do that?? that's horrendous.

 

Its pretty shocking isn't it. Opening up the sack and identifying what type of animal is in it. 

 

Terrierible. 

 

 

[Tonka]

Sometimes you get a human body

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

25 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

Sheep, lambs, badgers, foxes rabbits and once a horse.

probably a meat fest for folk who are more hard core than them road kill chefs. 

[Guest]

8 minutes ago, magnetman said:

Muntjac could be misidentified as a dog.  

Its pretty shocking isn't it. Opening up the sack and identifying what type of animal is in it. 

 

Terrierible. 

 

 

 

No need to open anything. It had split open and the contents had spilt out. From memory it was just a flimsy black bin bag.

 

They were all contained between the bow of our boat and the stern of the boat we were moored next to.

 

I remember once going up the Ashby and passing a floating dead sheep and on the return trip a few days later on passing it had bloated to what must have been twice its original size.

[cuthound]

We were delayed at Park Gate Lock on the Staffs and Worcester once whilst BW removed the remains of a dead sheep from the lock.

[Ronaldo47]

The occasional bloated dead sheep were the usual type of floating body we used to encounter. On one occasion we found a live lamb that must have got past the barbed wire fence that edged its field on the non-towpath side where the ground sloped gently into the canal, and had then managed to swim over to  the towpath side where it couldn't get out due to the Armco edging. We pulled it out, dried it off with a towel, and put it back in the field. 

[enigmatic]

15 minutes ago, Ronaldo47 said:

The occasional bloated dead sheep were the usual type of floating body we used to encounter. On one occasion we found a live lamb that must have got past the barbed wire fence that edged its field on the non-towpath side where the ground sloped gently into the canal, and had then managed to swim over to  the towpath side where it couldn't get out due to the Armco edging. We pulled it out, dried it off with a towel, and put it back in the field. 

Reminds me of encountering a cow that was somewhere between mournful and irate after being for a swim and getting lost between bridges

 

(I didn't try to dry it out or put it back in the field, but I did warn some towpath walkers!)

 

[ditchcrawler]

Unfortunately a boater found a human body on the Atherstone flight earlier this week

 

Notice Update: 19th July 23

Navigation: Open, Towpath: Open

Coventry Canal
Location: Atherstone Lock Flight, Coventry Canal
Starts At: Lock 1, Atherstone Top Lock
Ends At: Lock 5
Up Stream Winding Hole: Atherstone Top Lock
Down Stream Winding Hole: Bridge 48

---

 

Update on 19/07/2023:

Both navigation and towpath are now open again.

 

 

Original message:

 

Due to a police incident, the navigation and towpath is closed between Atherstone Lock Flight.

As soon as we receive further information, we will post an update.

You can find all notices at the url below:
https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/notices

[Feeby100]

2 hours ago, M_JG said:

Once found a litter of new born pups in the T&M, bagged up and drowned.

 

 

Sad people out there I hope they have the same ending soon

[magnetman]

I've only found one dead person in the water in almost 30 yars living on boats. 

I did check the pockets, wrists and neck for valuables as is the tradition but someone else had already been so police were called and did their thing. 

Jumper. 

 

 

 

[Bargebuilder]

2 hours ago, enigmatic said:

Reminds me of encountering a cow that was somewhere between mournful and irate after being for a swim and getting lost between bridges

 

(I didn't try to dry it out or put it back in the field, but I did warn some towpath walkers!)

 

That's nothing compared to Buttercup the cow who swam a mile through the Foulridge Tunnel and was rescued at the other end. 

[enigmatic]

2 minutes ago, Bargebuilder said:

That's nothing compared to Buttercup the cow who swam a mile through the Foulridge Tunnel and was rescued at the other end. 

I hope she sounded her horn and extinguished all lights except the pilot light  

 

[Bargebuilder]

2 minutes ago, enigmatic said:

I hope she sounded her horn and extinguished all lights except the pilot light  

 

From one end to the udder...

[Francis Herne]

I've encountered a couple of ex-dogs this year. One was recovered by the fire service for the owner later the same day.

 

Last year had a cat fall off Lark's offside gunwale - luckily it peered in the window first and I happened to spot it, otherwise I'd have thought the splash was the usual wildlife. Was swimming along the piling so I fished it out.

 

Apparently he's called Marmaduke.

Edited July 21, 2023 by Francis Herne

[Ronaldo47]

58 minutes ago, magnetman said:

I've only found one dead person in the water in almost 30 yars living on boats. 

I did check the pockets, wrists and neck for valuables as is the tradition but someone else had already been so police were called and did their thing. 

Jumper. 

 

 

 

The mention of checking pockets reminds me of a first aid refesher course I attended some years ago. After revising the first things you have to do on finding an unconcious casualty (ABC: Airway, Breathing, Circulation), one of the participants who worked as station staff at a local railway station, said to the instructor.  "Never mind ABC, do you know what our instructions say is the first thing we must do on finding an unconcious passenger? Check his ticket! "

Edited July 21, 2023 by Ronaldo47
typos

[Alway Swilby]

A few years ago there was a dead cow floating up and down the tidal Ouse near Selby for many weeks. Don't know what happened to it, maybe it eventually ended up in the Humber and out to sea.

[Grassman]

10 hours ago, ditchcrawler said:

Unfortunately a boater found a human body on the Atherstone flight earlier this week

 

Notice Update: 19th July 23

Navigation: Open, Towpath: Open

Coventry Canal
Location: Atherstone Lock Flight, Coventry Canal
Starts At: Lock 1, Atherstone Top Lock
Ends At: Lock 5
Up Stream Winding Hole: Atherstone Top Lock
Down Stream Winding Hole: Bridge 48

---

 

Update on 19/07/2023:

Both navigation and towpath are now open again.

 

 

Original message:

 

Due to a police incident, the navigation and towpath is closed between Atherstone Lock Flight.

As soon as we receive further information, we will post an update.

You can find all notices at the url below:
https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/notices

 

Both his body and his bike in the lock apparently.

[PeterScott]

57 minutes ago, Alway Swilby said:

... a dead cow floating up and down the tidal Ouse near Selby for many weeks. ...

Many years ago, when there were lots of paddle-and-rymer weirs on the Upper Thames, there was a lot of effort and paperwork involved with removing a dead cow from your weir. One of the relief lockies described midnight-opening of the paddles, and the problem was flushed down for the next lockie ...

[blackrose]

There are plenty of "floaters" of all shapes and sizes in the rivers & canals. Animals fall in and can't get out. Sometimes you can't tell what they are they're so bloated. It's all part of the waterways scene.