A High Court appeal against an order to have Co Roscommon man Donal Rogers's dog Kim put down has been formally withdrawn.
A destruction order for Kim, a Jack Russell Terrier, was made after she bit a passerby outside Rogers's home in March.
Rogers, 85, decided to withdraw his application to have the matter go before the High Court and that the matter could be struck out, Courts News Ireland reported on Thursday.
Representing herself, the victim, a woman from Co Tipperary, asked the Deputy Master of the High Court if the withdrawal meant that the destruction order remains in place and if this was the end of legal proceedings regarding the case.
The Deputy Master said that she assumed the order did indeed remain in place, adding that while the case mentioned before her was at an end, any other potential legal actions were a matter for Rogers.
Ben Clarke BL, instructed by Kieran Friel of McHale Muldoon solicitors for Rogers, agreed with the deputy master that the issue of going down further legal avenues rested with his client, the Irish Times reports.
The development in the case comes as the ‘Save Kim’ campaign continues to attract support. As of Thursday evening, a Change.org petition has garnered more than 163,000 signatures, while a GoFundMe page has separately raised more than €8,000.
Last week, a heartfelt “final plea” penned by Rogers was published by Gript.ie, in which the 85-year-old offers solutions to the victim who was bitten by Kim.
Rogers previously said that Kim, who has no history of biting, was laying in front of his secluded house in Co Roscommon when a group of strangers came down the road walking.
Kim "ran out on the road, and she nipped the person on the leg," Rogers said. He says he immediately apologized when the husband of the woman who was nipped came to his door.
“I offered to take her to hospital,” Rogers said, “but she refused to travel with me.”
The woman, who is in her 60s, was taken to hospital by a neighbor of Rogers and had her wound treated before being sent home.
The court heard that the victim, who says she was attacked from behind, required eight stitches, the Irish Times reports.
Rogers soon after received a court summons in relation to the incident. In subsequent hearings, the woman who was bitten demanded that Kim be destroyed.
Rogers offered to compensate the woman, but the woman refused. An order for Kim to be put down was granted, which Rogers appealed, but that appeal has now reportedly been withdrawn.
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