Lack of Control with Dog Control

ON Saturday a five year old boy was bitten on his face by a dog, while playing in Elizabeth Park.

While the owner was apologetic to the father of the child, the dog had bitten a man on the arm just minutes before.

James Earl, father of five year old Thomas said the dog was wearing a harness and on a lead but the owner should not have had the dog in that situation.

“I’d taken the kids down to Elizabeth Park for some play time and there was a lady down there with a couple of small kids and she had her dog with her, Thomas walked up to give the dog a pat and the dog panicked, lunged forward and nipped him on the lip,” said Mr Earl.

“The lady then put the dog in the back of her car and she was upset and I just said ‘look these things happen’ and we’ve got dogs,” he said.

“We had a talk to the Council bloke and gave them a description, but we don’t know if she was travelling through town and I was worried about Thomas more at the time and didn’t get the details.

“I don’t want some person to think their dog would be destroyed, but if you think your dog has an issue, don’t take it into that situation so that it doesn’t panic and bite,” James Earl said.

Katrina Clement, mother of Thomas, said she wished she had been there to get the contact details of the owner so that Council could follow up, but added there was a broader problem with animal control in the area.

“There are so many stray dogs around and we just want the Council to patch the holes in our street and to control the dog problem,” Katrina Clement said.

“I understand the lady may have just been someone driving through town and Council can’t follow up of they don’t have the details in this situation,” she said.

James and Katrina were unaware Dylan Reichel had been bitten by the same dog when he approached his own children on the play equipment just minutes before.

“My son was on the play equipment and the lady that had the dog, her daughter was on there as well playing,” said Mr Reichel.

“My son couldn’t reach the monkey bars so as I walked down to lift him up to reach them, the dog must have thought I was walking towards the girl; it pulled away from the lady, still on the leash and then it ran at me and bit me on the arm as I turned to pull away,” he said.

“She stood away from the play equipment for about five minutes and when James turned up with his young fella she was standing in the middle of the play equipment when it bit the little fella,” he said.

“I thought it might have been a one off when he bit me and the dog is obviously too strong for her to control.

“I couldn’t believe the dog was not intimidated by me, I held it down as she came and got it, but with the kid it just went straight for the face.

“It’s a big park and they can be over the other side chasing a ball, but not in the middle of the play equipment,” he said.

“It’s a dangerous dog after the second time, it’s a dangerous dog and it is obviously around her young child so I’d be worried if they turn their back for a second it could happen to her daughter,” Dylan Reichel said.

There are many stories of stray dogs in Scone, the community social media pages are full of posts about stray animals and there are many stories of dog attacks.

There is also a high number of hunting dogs in town, which can pose a larger risk to other animals and residents if they are roaming the streets, as Waverley Street resident Jessica Frances experienced approximately 18 months ago.

“There were some young cattle only a few weeks old in the gully paddock and three pig dogs surrounded these two and were attacking them,” said Jessica Frances

“They were latched onto the tail and the back leg and these poor cows and they had nowhere to go they were trapped in the yard with these dogs attacking them, so I’ve jumped over three fences found this metal rod on the ground and started to hack the dogs, because they were grabbed around the neck and they were killing them, it was just horrendous and I was screaming at them to get off and a few more people came then,” she said.

“I managed to get two off, but there was one we just couldn’t get off and the cow was dragging the dog and ended up in a garden shed and a man managed to belt the dog off it, we freed the cow and trapped the dog.

“The police had come by then and the owner had as well and said they’d never done it before and I don’t know what happened if they were destroyed or not.

“They were all pigging dogs and it was really scary.

“My adrenaline was going crazy and I probably shouldn’t have done it as they could have easily turned on me and I would have died they were so vicious.

“It’s not the dogs fault, it’s in their nature, but they need to be controlled.

“You see stray dogs on the community noticeboard all the time.

“As soon as they (Council) see a loose dog out they should just go and get it and take it away, especially the pigging dog types and especially taking them off the streets,” she said.

“They should be more proactive on that front,” Jessica Frances said.

After hours the Council rangers only respond to calls when the dog is defined as “dangerous and menacing” or “show signs of aggression”.

When scone.com.au called the after-hours number to report a stray dog we were told a ranger would only respond if the dog had bitten someone or was threatening to bite someone.

Local vets are frequently called by residents to manage stray dogs when the pound is unavailable, but say it is a stretch on their own resources and can be a risk to the other animals in their care.

“We don’t want stray animals on the street, so it is better they be safely kept until the owners can collect them, but it can be a stretch on our resources to house them when we have hospital and surgical animals and there is always a risk strays could be bringing in parvo or kennel cough,” said April Brennan, veterinarian at Pet Medical in Scone.

Reducing the number of stray dogs and managing them better is unlikely considering the resourcing Council has dedicated to animal control.

Across the Shire there are two rangers employed and in addition to animal control and operating the animal shelter they are also required to perform a range of regulatory duties for Council including:

• swimming pool inspections,
• onsite sewerage inspections,
• investigating pollution incidents – noise, smoke, abandoned vehicles,
• development compliance,
• traffic,
• footpath trading licences,
• littering,
• illegal dumping, and
• monitoring alcohol free zones.

When the Shire amalgamations occurred in 2004 there was a dedicated ranger in Merriwa and Scone and a part time ranger in Murrurundi.

scone.com.au asked Council the following:

• when were the ranger positions reduced from 2.5 to 2;
• what percentage of time do rangers currently spend on regulatory duties compared to animal control duties and
• what are the current documented (not hypothetical) response times of rangers to reports of stray animals?

Council had not responded to these questions at the time of publishing.