A VALE woman received medical treatment for an infected finger after attempting to remove a large fish hook stuck in her dog's paw.

Pauline Appleby, from Upper Street, Defford, has branded anglers 'irresponsible' following the incident last Thursday. She had been walking near Eckington Bridge with her sister, Helen, and their collection of dogs, including two-year old Labrador Archie.

Mrs Appleby said: "We had just gone into the field by the bridge and Archie was running along the path then suddenly let out a squeal. When I looked he had a hook, about five to six inches long with three sets of three hooks, stuck in the pad of his foot."

As Mrs Appleby struggled to remove the set of hooks from Archie's foot, another set of hooks got stuck in her own finger. It was only when the dog suddenly pulled away that the two were freed.

Mrs Appleby was given a tetanus injection and a course of antibiotics to clear up her infected finger, which had four puncture wounds, after seeing her GP. Archie's foot was not infected but he could need future treatment.

Mrs Appleby said: "The implications of what could have happen if a child had picked up that hook, or if I had been on my own, are pretty horrific. It was completely irresponsible to discard it like that and if anglers have to use these horrible things they should make sure they look after them properly."

Ray Woods, chairman of the Evesham and District Angling Association said the accident sounded like an unusual incident:

"It's quite unusual for hooks of this size to be discarded - they are that expensive anglers don't like losing them.

"Things like this do occur but anglers don't intend to be irresponsible. I'm very sorry this has happened."