On wednesday, I had just dropped my son off at school and walked through St Ann's Well Gardens in Hove, when I witnessed a dog maim a squirrel.

I know dogs do this and it is not the actions of the dog I am writing about but the reaction of the dog's owner.

The woman saw what had happened, saw the squirrel was still alive and embarrassed, just walked away.

I picked the squirrel up and tried to make the woman take responsibility for her dog but she just dismissed me, saying it was vermin and she was pregnant.

I couldn't believe she could leave any animal suffering like this. She seemed very detached and I got the impression her dog often catches squirrels.

I mentioned she should make her dog wear a muzzle in a public park but received no response.

The squirrel fortunately died quite quickly but that is not the point. Whether you regard these animals as vermin or not, in St Ann's Wells, children and people feed them daily so they are very tame and dogs that kill or worse maim, should be muzzled.

Thank goodness my child didn't witness her selfish behaviour.

-Mary Edwards, Hove