Experts have warned dogwalkers to be on the lookout for a toxic algae that looks like ‘green mashed potato’ which can be fatal if ingested. 

Blue-green algae spreads in ‘blooms’ over lakes and rivers, transforming the water into a vibrant green colour and giving it an earthy or musty smell. 

But the substance contains toxins that stop a dog’s liver from functioning, potentially resulting in death within just one hour. 

One woman tragically lost her beloved two-year-old pooch after he came into contact with the lethal substance at a lake in Somerset. 

One badly affected freshwater lake – Lough Neagh in Northern Ireland – is being devastated by the algae, which has formed uncontrollable blooms over the summer. 

One expert said the substance (pictured) can appear as ‘a green mashed potato-looking crust’ 

Noxious blooms of algae have covered large parts of Lough Neagh in Northern Ireland across the summer

It comes as environmentalists at Lough Neagh stage a ‘wake’ to mark what they say is the death of the famous lake due to the substance, officially known as cyanobacteria. 

Lough Neagh, the biggest freshwater lake in the UK or Ireland, supplies 40 per cent of Northern Ireland’s drinking water and sustains a major eel fishing industry. 

While ingestion of the cyanobacteria is not known to be fatal to humans, it can cause us severe illness. 

‘The state of the loch at the moment is simply appalling,’ environmental scientist Dr Leslie Gornall told BBC Radio 4 on Thursday. 

‘At the end of the loch there is a green mashed potato-looking crust which is a minimum of six inches deep and possibly 18 inches deep. 

‘If you put the oar of a boat into it the full blade of the oar can scoop up and act like a shovel…it smells disgusting.’

Blue-green algae contains toxins that can kill livestock, wild animals and domestic pets – both cats and dogs. 

‘If you drop your dog in there to chase a ball it will come out, lick it’s coat and then it’ll be dead in 24 hours,’ Dr Gornall said. 

‘It does need immediate action otherwise we’re going to lose not only the loch but the Lough Neagh eel will become extinct…we will lose tourism as well.’ 

Lough Neagh supplies 40 per cent of Northern Ireland’s drinking water and sustains a major eel fishing industry, but it is being devastated by the algae

Algae on the surface of Lough Neagh as environmental campaigners hold a ‘wake’ to protest the lack of action 

An adorable two-year-old Flat-Coated Retriever called Cove (pictured) passed away less than 45 minutes after being poisoned by blue-green algae in Somerset

Blue-green algae is not unique to Lough Neagh by any means, and the substance has been recently sighted in Lake Windermere in Cumbria, Highams Park Lake in London, Jubilee River in Berkshire and Wimbleball Lake in Somerset. 

An interactive map shows locations of the cyanobacteria in UK waters, as reported by members of the public. 

Blooms make waters look like pea soup or spilled green paint, but they can also look like more solid clumps or foams, especially near the shorelines. 

Some councils have erected signs that warn of the dangers if a lake is poisoned by the blooms, but this is not always the case.

Dogs that run away from their owners while off the lead could enter an affected river or lake before the owner has even realised it. 

A spokesperson at the Blue Cross said there is no antidote for the toxins produced by the blue-green algae.

‘If caught early enough, your vet will likely try to make your dog sick and attempt to flush the toxins from the body before they take hold,’ they said.

‘Sadly, blue-green algae poisoning often eventually causes fatal liver failure.’

In humans, contact with blue-green algae can cause skin rashes, sickness, stomach pains, fever and headaches.

There have been some reports of more serious illnesses including liver and brain damage, according to the Blue Cross, but there are no confirmed human deaths. 

Children are at greater risk than adults of developing problems because of their comparative lower body weight. 

Affected waters at Frampton on Severn in Gloucestershire. The algae growth is linked to excess nutrients in the water.

Sign at Preston Marina in Lancashire warning the public about the dangers of blue-green algae

Due to the health risks, anglers are being urged not to eat anything they catch from waters that they suspect might be affected. 

Although the cyanobacteria is not a new species, growth has been fuelled in the past few months by summer heat. 

A combination of warm temperatures, sunlight, and nutrient-rich waters is what causes blue-green algae to reproduce rapidly, or ‘bloom’. 

Nitrogen and phosphorus from agricultural fertiliser running off fields is believed to be another major factor  

The spread of the invasive Zebra mussel species is also understood to have played a role, as they have made the water clearer, allowing more sunlight to penetrate, stimulating photosynthesis. 

Three people in Britain have been infected with a dog disease which is now spreading between canines in the UK for the first time. 

Brucella canis, a bacterial infection, is an incurable disease in canines can lead to infertility, lameness and pain in dogs.

But the UK Health Security agency has now confirmed that three Brits have also caught the disease from infected animals, the first such cases ever found in the UK. 

And in another first Government experts today revealed they have now spotted the disease spreading among animals in the UK, albeit at low levels.

Cases found previously had been isolated incidents among animals imported from areas like Eastern Europe, where the disease is endemic. 

Three of the human cases of Brucella canis have now been spotted in the UK since 2022 health chiefs said. 

Cases among dogs in the UK have also skyrocketed, with a record 91 already spotted this year.

Brucella canis is a dog disease found mainly in animals imported from Eastern Europe, it can also infect people (stock image)

Dr Christine Middlemiss, chief veterinary officer at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), told The Telegraph: ‘We have had spread of a case in the UK to another dog in the UK. It is through breeding in kennels.  

‘There is not a lot – there is very little. But that is new for us.’

These UK-native cases of Brucella canis came from British dogs that had either had contact with an imported dog or were the offspring of an imported dog.

This means the disease isn’t considered endemic in the UK and is still officially classified as low risk.

Human Animal Infections and Risk Surveillance (HAIRS), a cross-Government group, today published a report on the risk Brucella canis poses.

HAIRS found that there is a ‘very low’ risk of someone in the population becoming infected.

However, dog breeders, people who work at vets or kennels and owners of infected dogs, are slightly more at risk of being exposed — but this is still classed as ‘low’, the HAIRS report states.

The group also found while the health risks of a Brucella canis infection were generally low, severe cases with life threatening complications had been reported and immunocompromised individuals could be at greater risk. 

In total three cases in people in the UK have been confirmed, with the HAIRS report detailing two.

The first was detected after attending hospital for their symptoms, while the second was found in an asymptomatic person working at a vets who was routinely tested after contact with an infected dog. 

HAIRS recommended that dog breeders and charities importing dogs from overseas should carry out pre-export testing for the disease.

They also advised that vets treating dogs imported from overseas use appropriate PPE to help minimise the risk of a potential infection.

Dr Middlemiss said the Government was currently considering introducing a mandatory testing requirement for dogs imported from Brucella canis hotspots. 

‘We are gathering the evidence, various risk assessments are contributing to that evidence and we will consider it,’ she said. 

While Brucella canis infection is not a death sentence for animals, it is considered a life-long disease, with no cure.

This is because the bacteria behind the disease can remain dormant in the dog even after treatment, meaning they remain potentially infectious.  

Therefore, the only way to guarantee onward transmission of the disease is euthanasia.

HAIRS said the decision on euthanasia is a matter for the owner of the animal and their vet and a willingness to accept the risks posed by continual exposure to the animal.

Brucella canis infections among dogs in the UK has been on the rise.

The bacterial infection can jump to people though severe disease is rare. Pictured the Brucella canis under a microscope

There were just 9 cases in 2020, but this rose to 36 the following year and increased to 55 in 2022.

As of July this year 91 cases have been identified in the UK, according to HAIRS.

Clinical information was available for 22 of the cases, with 19 dogs having no symptoms, one having inflammation of the spine and other two having back pain.

All but one of these dogs had been imported into the UK, with most coming from Romania (14). 

The remaining case came from a puppy at an unlicensed breeding premises in Wales, where 21 dogs were also subsequently found to have the infection. 

All other cases found so far this year were in imported dogs. 

HAIRS said a rise in awareness of the disease among British vets, and therefore testing for it, is likely behind the increase in cases. 

Tests have also increased with 5,773 carried out between January and July this year, compared to just 1,332 in 2018. 

Romania is one of the biggest sources of imported dogs into the UK, with over 70,000 animals imported to Britain in 2020 and 2021.

Only 10,000 animals were imported from last year Romania due to concerns of rise in diseases resulting from the conflict in neighbouring Ukraine. 

Signs of Brucella canis in dogs include infertility, swollen testes in male dogs, lethargy, premature aging and lameness from back pain.

However, some dogs may show no obvious signs of infection.

In people, Brucella canis generally produces mild and general flu-like symptoms that can make it difficult to diagnose.

The disease can also strike years after initial infection and may occasionally come back recurrently over several years.

There have also been reports of dangerous complications resulting from a Brucella canis infection in people.

These include serious infections of the heart, bone, brain tissue and blood. However, no fatal case of Brucella canis in people has been recorded. 

Transmission of the disease between people is theoretically possible through routes like blood transfusion but there are no known cases of this occurring in medical literature. 

Dr Middlemiss told MailOnline that: ‘We continue to work closely with our colleagues at UKHSA, dog welfare groups and vets to minimise the risks posed and recommend prospective owners make sure any dog imported from regions where Brucella canis is present is tested before arrival.’

Wendi Shepherd, head of emerging Infections and zoonoses at UKHSA, added: ‘We have seen a small number of cases of Brucella canis in people in the UK this year.

‘However, the risk to the general public in the UK is very low and the risk to people who have had close contact with an infected dog is low. 

‘From the small number of cases of the infection that have been reported in humans worldwide, the infection is usually mild, but people who have weakened immune systems, are pregnant, or are young children may be more likely to experience more serious infection.’

HOPE 

by Niall Harbison (HarperElement £18.99, 320pp)

Niall Harbison had been smoking, drinking, taking drugs and gambling since he was 13, and he finally hit rock bottom in his early 40s. After a six-day bender on booze and Valium, he ended up in intensive care in a Thai hospital, hooked up to drips and monitors.

Despite his addictions, Harbison had been successful in his career. A trained chef, he had worked in restaurants and then on yachts — rock star Bono was particularly partial to his full Irish breakfast.

The yachts were always fully stocked with expensive drinks, and Harbison often drank so much he’d black out. After a few years he gave up cooking and moved into digital marketing, eventually selling his company for several million euros. On a whim, Harbison moved to the island of Koh Samui in Thailand in 2018, taking his beloved rescue dog Snoop with him.

His recovery, which took a year, mostly involved long walks in the jungle with Snoop. On his walks he became aware of how many stray dogs were on the island: tens of thousands, he estimates. Pictured with Beagle McMuffin

When his girlfriend left him because of his drinking, he went into a downward spiral. After his stint in hospital, he realised that something had to change. ‘I knew that whatever I did next, I had to do with all my heart and soul,’ he said.

His recovery, which took a year, mostly involved long walks in the jungle with Snoop. On his walks he became aware of how many stray dogs were on the island: tens of thousands, he estimates. Many of them were ridden with fleas and worms, infected with ticks, and hobbling from injuries, yet he observed that ‘their spirits were amazingly unbroken, despite their tough lives’.

Harbison started buying dried food for the dogs and, within a week, he was fully committed to feeding them every day. At least half the dogs, he realised, wanted affection as well as food, and ‘after years of feeling I was a waste of space, I guess it was pathetically gratifying’.

While he longed to scoop them up and take them all home, Harbison accepted that the island dogs were content to live on the streets or in the jungle. ‘They’re often happiest in their natural environment,’ he says.

Every day he would find new packs of dogs or litters of puppies, and he had visions of his moped toppling under the weight of gigantic sacks of kibble. On a day when he found 50 puppies, he felt like crying with frustration. Simply feeding the dogs was hopeless, he concluded: his strategy had to include neutering and other health treatments.

Pleasingly, he has been able to call on the skills from his old life. Kibble is expensive and, he thinks, probably tastes like cardboard. He decided to cook the dogs fresh food: a mixture of rice, vegetables and meat. Adding chicken blood, he says with relish, makes it particularly tasty for them and it’s dirt cheap.

‘I had a hunch the ‘customers’ would be a damn sight more appreciative than some of the rich and famous I’d served before.’

He has also put his expertise in social media to good use, raising money from all over the world. Harbison keeps his followers updated on the ‘doggie nirvana’ compound he’s creating, and on dogs such as King Whacker, whose head was split open by an attacker but who made a miraculous recovery, or Britney, used in dog fights and then dumped in the jungle.

Every day he would find new packs of dogs or litters of puppies, and he had visions of his moped toppling under the weight of gigantic sacks of kibble

He claims to have only been badly bitten once, and he marvels at how sweet and trusting even the most scared, flea-bitten dog is.

Although he still suffers from depression, he has no fear of slipping back into addiction, because he’s simply too busy helping the dogs. There is no time for a girlfriend and besides, he sighs, who would want a bald Irishman who smells permanently of dog food?

Harbison’s aim is to help 10,000 dogs each month, and you wouldn’t bet against him achieving it.

Hope is a lovely book about someone who has been lucky enough to find his true purpose in life. People think he has saved these dogs, he says, but ‘really they saved me’.

From Snorkies to Puggles and Cockachons to Springbatts, designer dogs are among Britain’s most popular pets of choice.

The question is, how many of the 150 most common mixes could you name?

Thanks to a new study by the Royal Veterinary College (RVC), which looked at where the likes of Irish Doodles, Chugs, Shichons and Goldadors rank in the popularity stakes, a full list is included below. 

Claiming top spot and way out in front are friendly Cockapoos – a cross between a Cocker Spaniel and a Poodle.

Next come Labradoodles, which are a mix of a Labrador and Poodle, while Lurchers, Cavapoos and Sprockers round out the top five.

From Snorkies to Puggles and Cockachons to Springbatts, designer dogs are among Britain’s most popular pets of choice. The question is, how many of the 150 most common mixes could you name?

Top dog: Claiming top spot and way out in front are friendly Cockapoos – a cross between a Cocker Spaniel and a Poodle

Jugs – which are a cross between a Pug and Jack Russell Terrier – claim 6th place, Chorkies 7th, Cavachons 8th, Goldendoodles 9th and Puggles 10th.

Among the other breeds which make the top 20 are Miniature Labradoodles, Schnoodles, Maltipoos, Jack-Chis, Shichons, Australian Labradoodles, Jackapoo, Poochons, Springadors and Yorkipoos.

Dogs are one of Britain’s best-loved pets, with the country’s canine population hitting a staggering 11 million this year, according to the PDSA.

Despite this, there has been surprisingly little research on the popularity of breeds of different ages in the UK.

Pomskies, which are a cross between a Pomeranian and a Siberian Husky, are a popular choice

Cute: A Springbatt (pictured) is a cross between a Basset Hound and a Springer Spaniel

A Cockachon (pictured) is a cross between an American Cocker Spaniel and a Bichon Frise

In their new study, the team from the RVC analysed 2,237,105 dogs across 800 distinct breeds in the UK.

Data collected on each dog included their age, breed, body shape, body weight and sex.

The results revealed that, across all age groups, non-designer crossbreeds were the most popular, making up 24 per cent of the population.

This was followed by the Labrador Retriever (6.9 per cent), Jack Russell Terrier (4.5 per cent), English Cocker Spaniel (4.3 per cent), Staffordshire Bull Terrier (4.2 per cent) and Chihuahua (3.6 per cent).

However, the results were startlingly different when focusing on dogs aged under one year.

Among UK puppies, after general crossbreeds (20 per cent), the most common breeds were the French Bulldog (7.0 per cent), Cockapoo (6.2 per cent), Labrador Retriever (5.8 per cent), English Cocker Spaniel (4.7 per cent) and Chihuahua (4.2 per cent).

Dr Dan O’Neill, Associate Professor in Companion Animal Epidemiology at the RVC, and lead author of the paper, said: ‘With 800 dog breeds available in the UK, this VetCompass study shows there are still plenty of healthy breeds to choose from that do not suffer from extreme body shapes such as flat faces, skin folds or absent tails. 

This cute little dog is a Chiweenie – a cross between a chihuahua and a dachshund

Havapoos – a mixture of a Havanese and Toy or Miniature Poodle – are another popular dog

‘Despite this, many UK owners are still persuaded by social influences and trends into acquiring dogs with extreme body shapes that are likely to result in serious health issues during much of their dogs’ lives.

‘The advice is to stop and think before buying a dog with an extreme body shape.’

Flat-faced dogs’ short-faced ‘brachycephalic’ characteristics did not evolve naturally, and are instead the result of selective breeding.

This facial structure puts them at high risk for a range of health conditions, including skin fold dermatitis, breathing and eye issues.

A study published last year by researchers from the RVC compared the risks of 40 common conditions in pugs with other dog breeds.

This designer dog is a Jug, a cross between a Pug and a Jack Russell Terrier

The team analysed the records of 16,218 pugs and 889,326 non-pug breeds, taken from the VetCompass database.

Their analysis revealed that pugs were at increased risk for 23 out of 40 common disorders.

Pugs were 54 times more likely to have brachycephalic obstructive airway syndrome – a condition affecting the upper airway – and 51 times more likely to have narrow nostrils.

The breed was also 13 times more likely to suffer from corneal ulceration, 2.5 times more likely to suffer from obesity, and twice as likely to have overgrown nails.

Meanwhile, the researchers say the rise in designer crosses such as Cockapoos, Cavapoos, and Labradoodles is also concerning.

Owners often opt to spend huge amounts on these breeds amid the belief that they make better pets, trigger fewer allergic reactions or are easier to look after.

However, the researchers say there is limited evidence to support any of these beliefs.

The team hopes the findings will help prospective owners to make more informed decisions when buying a puppy.

‘We hope this paper encourages prospective dog owners to be thorough in their research and to prioritise the welfare of their new pet – above all else,’ Dr McMillan added.

‘Helping to ensure a long and happy life for their new family member.’

Dogs are described as man’s best friend – but they’re more like our surrogate children, a neuroscientist has said.

With their big eyes and helpless natures, pets may in fact have hijacked our evolutionary impulse to look after infants, according to Dr Dean Burnett.

Dr Burnett told Cheltenham Science Festival: ‘We are hardwired to respond to things that remind us of babies – so cats and dogs and puppies.’

It is the only real explanation for why we keep cats around, he said.

‘Try explaining cat ownership, in particular, to an alien,’ he told the Mail after the talk. ‘The alien would ask, ‘It is a highly evolved predator – and you keep it in your house?’

Dogs are described as man’s best friend – but they’re more like our surrogate children, a neuroscientist has said

‘They would ask, “Does the cat like you?” and you would probably have to say no.

‘Asked “Does it provide you with anything?”, you would answer that it brings you disembowelled rodents, which are not your favourite.

‘And the cat has rather a lot of psychopathic tendencies – so the alien would have real trouble understanding why you feed it, pay for it, keep it free of fleas, and let it defecate in your house.’

The neuroscientist, who talks about his five-year-old cat Pickle in his bestselling book on the science of emotion, called Emotional Ignorance, says cats and dogs have many of the same traits as human infants.

He said we are evolutionarily hardwired to be heavily emotionally invested in babies, so adults don’t simply abandon children after birth.

But this caregiving urge has accidentally ‘spilled over’ to our pets.

Dr Burnett said: ‘Dogs and cats are small with big heads and eyes, they can’t speak, they are often playful, but they depend on us rather a lot.

‘We are emotionally sensitive to these traits, because they are just like those of babies, so we want to protect them.’

The neuroscientist, whose cat Pickles has a dedicated group of followers on Twitter, added: ‘If a person behaved like a cat, being disdainful and indifferent, and committing mass slaughter, they would probably end up being arrested’

The neuroscientist, whose cat Pickles has a dedicated group of followers on Twitter, added: ‘If a person behaved like a cat, being disdainful and indifferent, and committing mass slaughter, they would probably end up being arrested.

‘But we find this cute, simply because they remind us so much of babies.’

The suggestion that pets create a kind of misdirected parenting response has been backed up by scientific evidence.

A 2014 study by Harvard-affiliated researchers scanned the brains of mothers as they looked at pictures of their children and their dogs. 

Their brains were found to light up in a similar way when looking at the images, suggesting they felt the same kind of emotion for both dogs and children.

Dr Burnett told Cheltenham Science Festival: ‘We are hardwired to respond to things that remind us of babies – so cats and dogs and puppies’

This research was discussed at last year’s Cheltenham Science Festival by Dr Anna Machin, from the University of Oxford, who said at the time: ‘When we look at the brains of humans with their dogs, we see the fingerprint of love and we also see the parenting areas of the brain light up.’

But the evolutionary anthropologist did add that a difference in brain signal intensity suggested people ‘probably would rescue the kid first in a fire’.

Dr Burnett, who has two children and a one-year-old beagle called Forest, said: ‘People are now more likely to have children later in life, or not at all, so having a pet may scratch the ‘itch’ we have to widen our family and nurture and protect someone helpless.

‘I don’t like the term “fur baby” very much myself, but there is no denying this is how many people feel towards their cats and dogs.’

MEMOIR 

TOUCHING CLOTH: CONFESSIONS AND COMMUNIONS OF A YOUNG PRIEST 

by the Reverend Fergus Butler Gallie (Penguin £16.99, 192pp)

When Fergus Butler-Gallie was a young curate in Liverpool, he was conducting a Merchant Navy Remembrance Day service by the Mersey. The two-minute silence had been punctiliously observed, and the lady bugler was about to play the Reveille.

It was all going rather well, thought the Rev Fergus, who should have remembered Proverbs, Chapter 16: ‘Pride comes before a fall’.

This is the author’s third book. The first, A Field Guide To The English Clergy, was basically a history of ecclesiastical oddballs and proved a huge success

Suddenly, there was a powerful gust of wind from behind. As the curate’s cassock and the bugler’s skirt were hoicked into the air, a huge wave of spray rose from the river. ‘The result was that we received an impromptu and ill-directed enema,’ he recalls.

With the crowd now helpless with laughter, he and the bugler adjusted their dress with as much dignity as they could muster and carried on with the service.

That incident sums up clerical life, if Butler-Gallie’s entertaining book is anything to go by: moments of great solemnity very often punctuated by uproarious mirth.

This is the author’s third book. The first, A Field Guide To The English Clergy, was basically a history of ecclesiastical oddballs and proved a huge success.

We do love an eccentric vicar in this country. As some anonymous theologian once remarked: ‘If the Almighty had meant us to take the clergy seriously, He wouldn’t have made vicars rhyme with knickers.’

Butler-Gallie grew up in a military family and remembers the moment when he told his nearest and dearest that he planned to join the officer corps of the Church of England.

‘It’s not so different from the Army,’ observed his father, thoughtfully. ‘The outfit’s stupid and the pay’s crap. Carry on.’

He was right about the outfit. Putting on a dog collar transforms you from mild-mannered Clark Kent into the Reverend Superman (female superheroes are also available). You can no longer melt quietly into the background: suddenly, you are very visible indeed.

Butler-Gallie grew up in a military family and remembers the moment when he told his nearest and dearest that he planned to join the officer corps of the Church of England

‘Eyes were instinctively drawn to me,’ says Butler-Gallie. People even started smiling at him in a certain way, a sort of nervous grimace.

And the clergy get asked such extraordinary things. The most frequent inquiry is: ‘Why did you become a priest?’ But people also wanted to know if budgies go to Heaven and whether he would sprinkle holy water on their knife disposal bin.

He was asked to exorcise a noisy ghost from a flat, only to discover it was a radiator playing up. He conducted a memorial service for the Duke of Rutland’s pony and was once mistaken for a drug dealer at a party.

He got off lightly compared to a college chaplain friend, who once called in at a Liverpool pub in his full kit and was immediately pounced on by a hen party, who mistook him for the stripper. They pounced so thoroughly that he lost a button from his cassock.

There are some surprising revelations. Butler-Gallie admits to covering up his dog collar when passing Big Issue sellers when he has no cash. And most vicars, it seems, hate Christmas, which seems fair enough.

During one advent season, Butler-Gallie took part in 50 renditions of Away In A Manger, which is surely against the terms of the Geneva Convention. He once presided over the Fire Brigade carol service, which included the Fire Brigade Dance Troupe dancing topless to O Little Town Of Bethlehem.

The sadder revelation is that not everybody in the Church of England is full of the milk of human kindness. After leaving Liverpool, Butler-Gallie was posted to a church in London.

He’d been warned that it was ‘utterly toxic’, but wasn’t prepared for the year that followed.

‘Nothing worked, time was endlessly wasted, vanity and pomposity was the norm,’ he says. ‘I’d be humiliated in meetings, ignored in public, endlessly gossiped about.’ As part of the unseemly squabbling, he was even denied communion at Christmas.

The book ends on a sad note. Unable to find another job in the church, he reveals that he is leaving the ministry: ‘By all external Church of England measurements, my career has been a failure.’

Can there really be no place in the church for a thoughtful, Oxbridge-educated, kindly young man with excellent communications skills and a media profile?

Is there an element of envy at his worldly success (even though envy is a sin and so is obviously completely foreign to the CofE)?

A quick Google search reveals that Butler-Gallie is not entirely lost to the Church. He is now assistant chaplain at his old school. And if members of his new flock ask why he became a priest, he’ll presumably give the same answer he’s always done: ‘Black is so slimming.’

A woman who was mauled to death by the eight animals she was walking in a Surrey park is believed to have been killed by her own American Bully XL.

Witnesses to the horrific attack said the dogs turned into a pack of ‘wolves’ when they attacked Natasha Johnston, 28, at the Gravelly Hill beauty spot in Caterham on January 12.

She died from multiple bites to the neck, including one that perforated her jugular vein, an inquest heard. Eight dogs were seized at the scene of the frenzied attack.

Police confirmed Ms Johnston’s dog was the only animal to have been destroyed, which they believe to be an American Bully XL. 

They are continuing to hold five other dogs following a vet’s forensic report, but two seized dachshunds were returned to their owner last month.

Natasha Johnston  died from multiple bites to the neck

Police at the scene in Gravelly Hill in Caterham, Surrey, where dogs fatally attacked Ms Johnston 

A Surrey Police spokesman said: ‘We have now received a forensic veterinary report and this has been shared with the Surrey Coroner.

‘As a result of this, two dogs (both Dachshunds) were returned to their owner at the end of April and one dog, which belonged to the deceased, has been put to sleep. 

‘The five other dogs remain in private kennels and we are speaking with their owners regarding recommendations from the report.

‘The breed of dog that was put to sleep is believed to be an American Bully XL.

‘Besides the update on the status of the seized dogs we do not have any further comments or updates on this investigation, as it has now passed to the coroner’s office and will be covered as part of the inquest.’

One of the dogs was an 11stone Leonberger that appeared on a BBC TV show about problem puppies – and was renamed Shiva because it was so unruly.

The pet appeared with her then owner Delia Lewis, on BBC Two’s 10 Puppies and Us in 2017. Originally called Maple, she was filmed running around professional psychic Ms Lewis’ home and going to the toilet on the carpet. 

Ms Lewis posted on social media after the incident that the dog, whose name she had to change due to her unruly behaviour, was ‘one of the ones missing’.

She added: ‘She’s a Leonberger, please if you have any information please tell me where to go or what to do.’ 

When much younger, Shiva appeared in a BBC2 programme, 10 Puppies and Us, about unruly puppies who chew through furniture. 

Ms Lewis, a telephone psychic living in Croydon at the time of the 2017 show, originally decided to call her dog Maple before deciding it was ‘far too sweet a name for this dog’.

Shiva, an 11st Leonburger, was among eight hounds with the victim – and was a troublesome puppy who chewed anything she could get her paws on

Delia Lewis, a psychic and crystal healer, posted online that her dog is ‘missing’ in the aftermath of the incident

Ms Lewis initially had problems housetraining young Shiva, who used to go to the toilet wherever she wanted

She instead renamed the pooch Shiva, which is a name shared by the Hindu god of destruction.

Ms Lewis said on the programme: ‘I thought Maple is far too sweet a name for this dog.

Shiva was described as chewing anything she could get her paws on, from the carpet to the bins. 

But in 2020, Shiva was described by her vet in Wimbledon as a ‘giant girl’ with ‘the sweetest nature ever’. 

An inquest into Ms Johnston’s death is due to begin on June 29. 

After the horrific attack, friends paid tribute to ‘bubbly, beautiful’ Ms Johnston who loved dogs and was experienced in handling them. 

Jo Butchers, 34, a friend of Ms Johnston from her childhood home of Ryde on the Isle of Wight, said ‘Long countryside walks with the dogs were her thing.

‘She did a lot of dog walking here, not as a professional but with her own dogs and those of friends.

‘Then she moved away and that became her job in London. She grew up with dogs, so she always loved them.’

At the time, the local Tandridge council said she was not licensed to walk dogs in the district.

But Ms Butchers insisted to the Mail on Sunday that Ms Johnston, who lived in Croydon, South London, was an experienced professional who had got her licence. 

She added that when she heard the news of her friend’s death she didn’t believe it ‘because she was great with the dogs’.

Another friend told the MoS: ‘She was definitely not new to dogs – the complete opposite.

The 28-year-old dog walker died after a frenzied attack by the canines at the Gravelly Hill in Caterham, Surrey

Another woman was hospitalised and eight dogs were recovered at the scene after police responded following the attack at 2.45pm on January 12

‘She always loved them and absolutely adored her own, talking about them all the time.

‘She seemed really happy being a dog walker in London, she used to put videos on her Snapchat of the dogs. So it’s ironic the way that she was killed, bless her.’

Before moving to London, Ms Johnston lived in Ryde with her brother and two dogs.

The mother of one childhood friend said: ‘We’re absolutely devastated. She was so caring, a beautiful girl inside and out.

‘She was always bubbly when she used to come to meet my girl. They used to go out together and enjoy their lives as young teenagers.

‘She’s going to be sorely missed. I know there will be a lot of people going up to her funeral.’

Police barricade the road close to the scene where Ms Johnston was mauled to death by a pack of dogs

A woman lays flowers where the dog mauling took place as she pays her respects to the 28-year-old victim

The attack raised questions about differing council rules for the number of dogs one person can walk at a time. Most councils vary between four and six dogs. 

A source close to the case told the Daily Mail: ‘She just had too many dogs. You cannot be in control with that amount of dogs. If something happens, it’s like having seven small wolves attacking you.

‘The dogs were in a frenzy, acting as a pack, and going for whatever was in front of them.’

One of the dogs had moments earlier attacked and bitten another woman who was walking her own dog – and she fled, injured.

It is thought Ms Johnston may then have fallen under attack from the seven or eight dogs she was walking.

When two people on horseback stumbled upon the graphic scene, she shouted: ‘Go back, go back’.

Police were called, arriving half an hour after the initial attack in several cars carrying armed officers and paramedics 

A 60-year-old woman on horseback saw something of it as she approached the brow of a hill at 2.30pm on the North Downs Way – a bridle path at Gravelly Hill, near Caterham, Surrey – flanked by a grass bank and bushes and trees. 

Surrounded by dogs pulling frenziedly at her limbs, a blonde woman wearing a beige jacket was on the ground, sitting but never quite managing to stand up. She never did.

‘When we saw her she was about 50ft away,’ the horsewoman told The Mail on Sunday.

‘She was swamped by at least four medium-sized dogs, maybe more, attacking her, pulling her at arms and sides and she was screaming and shouting.’ But perhaps surprisingly, there was no barking, a chilling detail that adds another layer to the horror.

The horsewoman, who believes she was the last person to see the victim alive, added: ‘The dogs must have been on the lead because they were in such close proximity.

‘I don’t know why they kicked off the way they did. Maybe a couple were fighting with each other and she tried to intervene, and she got in the way and they saw red and just kept going.

‘When she saw us she shouted: ‘Turn back, turn back!’.’

It’s a ‘boarder collie! Skateboarding DOGS show off their skills at competition in Thailand

• Dogs competed on skateboards at Pet Expo Thailand in Bangkok yesterday
• Lizards wearing rucksacks and headsets were also paraded around the event 

By Arthur Parashar

Published: 10:44 EDT, 8 May 2023 | Updated: 16:34 EDT, 8 May 2023

For most people, seeing a dog gracefully riding around on a skateboard would be a rare sight.

But for those attending the four-day dog skateboarding competition in Thailand‘s capital Bangkok, watching dogs show their skills off in a makeshift skate park simply becomes the norm.

In fact, it looks even less bizarre when they are joined by lizards being paraded around wearing headsets and rucksacks, squirrels in dresses and dogs in pushchairs.

Hilarious photos captured some of the best shots of dogs flying over ramps on skateboards at this year’s Pet Expo Thailand competition yesterday.

Dogs competing at the event, which was held at the Queen Sirikit National Convention Centre in Bangkok, were judged on form and agility and separated into novice and experienced categories. 

Taking first place in the novice category was Mui while Suradej was crowned champion of the experienced category.

Hunter’s owner releases him down a ramp on a skateboard during Thailand’s Pet Expo competition

Steady on! Townie, the third place winner, looks to regain control on the skateboard during Sunday’s competition

A furry dog cannons down a ramp at some speed with the Pet Expo Thailand podium in the background

The crowd in the background are captivated as another owner releases his dog onto a skateboard

Gracious: Townie puts the brakes on after going down one of the ramps at the Queen Sirikit National Convention Centre

Dogs are joined by exotic creatures including this lizard who is wearing clothes, a headset and a rucksack

Meanwhile, a prairie dog, belonging to the squirrel family, wears a dress while the competition goes on 

Dogs being paraded around the event in a pushchair wear sunglasses and get cooled down by a fan behind them

Townie stares down the camera lens after securing third place in the skateboarding competition

Townie receives a hug from its owner after putting on an impressive display at the Thailand competition

A corgi wows the crowd as it makes its way down the ramp riding a skateboard yesterday afternoon

Tung, with his tongue sticking out, begins his descent of the ramp while riding a skateboard

Hungry! Tung gets distracted and attempts to bite his skateboard during the competition

Cool, calm, collected: John, who came second in the event, looks composed as he makes his way down the ramp

Owners celebrate getting their dogs on the podium at the Sirikit National Convention Centre

A German shepherd attempts to participate in a skateboarding competition during Pet Expo Thailand

Winner! Suradej beats all his opponents and is crowned as champion of Pet Expo Thailand 2023

The winners of the experienced level at the dog skateboarding competition – which Suradej triumphed in

Stylish: A dog wearing sunglasses is paraded around the event in a pushchair yesterday