Any advice here would be good thanks...

A couple of weeks ago during the day while I was at work, two large dogs - one a Rottweiler, escaped from a backyard a few streets away. They entered my property and grabbed our cat sitting on our balcony and ripped it to shreds. The cat died.

My wife heard the commotion and witnessed the whole thing.

The worse part of it was that not 5 minutes earlier, my 2yr old daughter was sitting on the front porch, patting and playing with "Lucy" - he favourite pet. Fortunately, my missus had brought our daughter inside and closed the door so she could serve her lunch - just in time.

To cut a long story short... the Police and Animal Control (Council) were called and they searched the streets for the dogs for some time but gave up. The dogs had disappeared.

Then later that arvo, the dogs returned for more. My neighbour spotted them and managed to scare them away from our yard, then followed them up the street in his car. They took off ahead. When he caught up to them, now a couple of streets away, he spotted one of them sizing himself up, ready to charge down a driveway. The neighbour fortunately saw this in time and lept from his car screaming, in a bid to distract the dogs and scare them away. The dogs took off. Just in time, too. At the bottom of the driveway happend to be a small child, about 6 yrs old. She had her back to the dogs and was oblivious to it all. When she heard my neighbour's screams, she turned. My neighbour saw that she was holding a small cat or dog in her arms. Like my own daughter, how lucky was she?

So the Police and Animal Control guy were again called and this time they followed the dogs to their home.

Now the hard part. It looks like the owners have been fined by the Council a total of $110 and they've been told to keep their animals in their yard. That's it. The Council tell me that they are powerless to do anything else unless the dogs hurt a human.

I've twice left messages for the Police to call me but they so far haven't.

While it's sad that the poor cat died in such a way, I'm most distressed about the two kids that could have been attacked. Where do we stand here? Where does my neighbourhood stand?

Do we have any rights to have the dogs destroyed? My belief is that the b#stards will come back for more now they've tasted blood.

I'm in Sydney. What powers do the Police have in such a matter? Can they order the destruction of the dogs in such a matter? They have already taken a statement from my wife and neighbour about all of the above.

Edited 10/05/04 11:13 AM10/05/04 11:13 AM by Scootre

If it was me, my family and my neigboughood the dogs would have died already. Its irrisponsible and kids (or any person), should not need to get mauled or killed for action to be taken.

I'm not a pet person but I understand people having and loving their pets. The thing is when they start killing other pets and endangering people they are no longer pets. They have reverted back to their animal insticts.

I know that one should not take the law into ones own hands. If the law wont act and your kids are in danger you have todo something.

Geea.

If it was me, my family and my neigboughood the dogs would have died already. Its irrisponsible and kids (or any person), should not need to get mauled or killed for action to be taken.

I'm not a pet person but I understand people having and loving their pets. The thing is when they start killing other pets and endangering people they are no longer pets. They have reverted back to their animal insticts.

I know that one should not take the law into ones own hands. If the law wont act and your kids are in danger you have todo something.

Geea.

I agree. We have had a couple of big German shepards over the years however they have always been very friendly (big wimps) but if they were a danger to other peoples children it would be my (the owners) responsibility to either take them out of the environment (maybe sell them to a hunter) or kill them. Having said that, I think unless the owner see's this with his/her own eyes they are unlikely to agree to someone killing their pet.

Best to be extra vigilant and try to make sure there is no way the animal can get into your yard. If it was me, and it does manage to continue to find it's way into your yard, and potentially threaten your family....Well....Solution 22 maybe the only solution...Good luck.

Chris.

From all my experience with obedience training, it has got more to do with the way the dogs have been brought up, and the environment that they were raised in. We have always had German Shepherds in our family, and the worse thing they have ever done is licked the milkman.

If the two dogs are put down, unfortunately there is nothing stopping your neighbours obtaining some more dogs, and probably raising them in a worse and more aggressive state than the rottweiler has been raised.

Kill the neighbour. That will fix your problems. Unfortunately that solution is illegal. Rock and a hard place.

scootre,

I had a similar situation about 2 years ago. Living in Gladesville (Sydney) I was hearing a big comotion at our back door. My 2 cats were growling and hissing at a big Rottie and a Pitbull that were trying to break down our back screen door. I got some Preen and sprayed it in their faces and they backed off. My house house had a driveway top the garage at the back with no gate so there was easy access from the road, but so did my neighbour. I could hear their 3 kids and new puppy playing on their drive. I yelled at the neighbour and she grabbed the kids and puppy just in time to see these 2 dogs at their door. I called the council and they said the ranger had gone home (4pm sat) so I told them it was an emergency, they would try to get animal control. I called 000 and tolf them about the dogs and kids. The police and ranger turned up within about 10 mins and the dogs were in my back yard. The police made a report and the ranger said this was the 3rd time this had happened and if it happened again the dogs would be put down and the neighbour fined $1500 per dog for irrisponsible control of a dangerious dogs.

While these dogs seemed very friendly to the cops and ranger, they are still known as vicious.

About one week later the same thing happened and I called the cops and ranger again.

The Ranger said that he was not going to do anything as he did not want the owners to get into trouble. Things got a bit heated between me and the ranger as the police turned up.

I demanded the ranger do his job and take the dogs to the pound and fine the owner. I called up the council and made sure he did the job.

The owner of the dogs came to visit me and got angry. I was shocked by the rangers and owners lack of responsibility of making sure the dogs remained in control.

Make an official written complaint to the local police and council about the dangers this dog is in your neighbourhood. Also consider legal action over the death of your cat. I think that since this dog has killed your cat on your property you can actually have the dog put down as it is proven to be dangerious.

If a child is killed by this animal you want to make sure you have done everything to ensure it is prevented.

Yes, you can take legal action yourself over the death of your pet. If the rangers and police won't help then civil action is your last resort. Can you afford the time, cost and upset in doing this? That is the problem. Cheaper and easier to follow geea's course methinks.

As far as I know it only needs one attack for the dog to be put down - not three. I know different councils may have different by-laws but the Companion Animal Act also covers these things and it is NSW State legislation so will override any council by-laws if you go to court in a civil action.

I'm supposing other States have parrallel Acts in force.

The Police/council can only take as much action as the law permits. We don't write the law, we just enforce it. Funnily, or not really funnily, my wife's catlooks like the same sort of thing happened to it yesterday but it didn't die, though its not real healthy at the moment.

Essentially its a dog control issue, not one for the Police. If the attack is happening on humans and at the time we will turn up and deal with it as we can. The rest of the time there are specialist areas such as dog control or the RSPCA that deal with it. I'm pretty sure, but could be wrong, that they are the only people that apply for destruction orders, and that is through a Court after some sort of conviction has been recorded against an owner.

I would be chasing it up through council and the specialist dog areas, not the Police, as they will just refer you on to them.

You do have a right to protect persons and property on your land, and have legal action available to you to sue for the death of your cat.

If the coppers are taking statements then some sort of prosecution may be imminent but, in my experience, it takes a lot for a dog to be destroyed

Good luck

Do you need a lend of this Scootre??

I agree totally with MS700 the environment the dog is brought up in is the contributing factor. I have always had big dogs and even now I have a male boxer who herds the cat away from our 9 week old son in a bid to "protect" him. He is a big softie but is an excellent guard dog. Part of the responsibility of owning any animal is to ensure that the do not impact adversly on the environment. ie cats must be inside at night & dogs should be on a lead when out of their yard.

Scottre you have a dilemma no doubt, you are torn between the basic instinct of protecting your brood and the social ramifications of becoming a vigilante.

Good Luck

PSI

Yes, you can take legal action yourself over the death of your pet. If the rangers and police won't help then civil action is your last resort.

Civil action is your only recourse anyway. If someone is charged by police/council then an order for restitution goes on the brief in front of the magistrate. If the magistrate grants the order (in your case, the cost of a new cat), then it is never enforced.

In other words, if the crook doesn't abide by the court order to pay you, then you need to attempt to recover your money through civil action. Mind you, if the crook owes the government money, that's a whole different story. That's what sherriffs do. Government sanctioned debt collectors. This is in Victoria.

As far as dealing with the dog, it is my experience that dog attacks are dealt with by the council. Councils have rangers that have the appropriate equipment to deal with aggressive dogs, the police do not. All we can do is shoot it (which sounds liek a reasonable outcome here!), but do you want the police waving their guns around and letting off rounds in your street? A dog attack would become a police matter if someone has deliberately set their dog onto someone with real intention to cause someone an major mischief. "Incite dog attack" or similar is the offence.

The owners of these dogs can't even control their animals, imagine what their kids are going to be like....

Best of Luck with it.