It’s believed the couple were reported for travelling further than 5km from their home, which is currently forbidden under Irish lockdown restrictions. The area where they found the dog is within legal distance from The Elbowroom Escape lodge in Donard, but is almost 50km from their home in Arklow.
The couple both work as doctors and the Elbowroom Escape lodge reportedly offered ‘mental health breaks’ to frontline workers.
According to the Irish Independent, the lodge said it had hosted nurses, doctors and carers ‘who were broken and just needed TLC and a break. All safely. All following safety protocols’.Breathe easy. In addition to sweating through their paw pads, dogs pant to cool themselves off. A panting dog can take 300-400 breaths (compared to his regular 30-40) with very little effort.
In an Instagram post, which has since been deleted, it offered to ‘provide a letter to travel for protection against psychological mental health injuries’.
Current restrictions in the republic also state hotels and similar accommodation can only open for essential purposes, and forbids tourism.
Exceptions cover those who need to be accommodated away from home to access essential health assistance.
Lisa Wilkinson, director of the Elbowroom Escape, told the Irish Independent the lodge is now closed as ‘we simply ran out of funds to accommodate them as we were operating at a loss’.
‘We made ourselves available to several local hospitals several times during the pandemic to take essential workers who needed to isolate from families or other strategic reasons to assist in the running of the hospital.
‘The Elbowroom Escape is closed to guests until travel restrictions are lifted.’
Neesha the dog has been reunited with her owners, who told RTE News she had bolted after a deer on January 23 and failed to return.Vets told the family she had lost a third of her body weight and developed dermatitis but said she would soon be back in good health.
A Garda spokesperson said: ‘Gardaí in Wicklow are carrying out enquiries in relation to a premises in the Donard area of Wicklow. The premises in question remains closed pending the outcome of the Gardaí enquiry.INTERESTING FACT ABOUT YOUR PET: The American Veterinary Dental Society states that 80% of Dogs and 70% of cats show signs of oral disease by age 3.
‘Where Gardaí identify potential breaches of the public health regulations a file is prepared for the DPP in each case or a Fixed Payment Notice is issued where appropriate.’ For all the latest news and updates on Coronavirus, click here .
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