“They’ll also talk to some of the witnesses,I believe there are up to three witnesses who saw this,and they’ll also talk to the actual owner of the dogs,and that will form part of the case when it is probably predicted that it will go to court.”
Irwin said when it came to how the investigation played out,there was no difference between a dog attack on a human or an animal.
“In terms of us investigating,a dog attack is a dog attack. Obviously,there are many different severity levels,from a dog nipping a dog,right through to these sort of attacks where it ends up that a dog is dead,and a person is severely injured,” he said.
The mayor said the Dog Act was one of the strongest forms of powers that local governments have.
“We have our rangers who deal with that,and that’s why the Dog Act basically determines that local governments,through their rangers,will carry out the investigations and the prosecutions that then follow,” he said.
Irwin said he wanted to remind people to “contain their dogs”.
“I think one of the reasons we want to get this message out there is people have to ensure that they contain their dogs. And whilst afterwards,we quite often hear things like,‘Oh,this is the first time my dog has done this,’[but] dogs should be restrained,” he said,
“They should be on leash,and they should be contained within their backyards when owners aren’t home.
“In incidents like this[where] you can see a couple of dogs together,you tend to get more of that pack mentality when these things happen.
“The end result is people can get very seriously injured.”
But it’s not just physical injuries that occur from an attack like this,it is also the mental trauma that follows as well.
“It affects emotionally,a lot of people. I would think that the witnesses who saw this,as well as the victim,are pretty distressed from what they witnessed during this time,” Irwin said.
“And of course,we now have a deceased dog and an owner who’s probably going to need some fairly significant surgery.”
If found guilty under the Dog Act,owners can cop a whopping fine as well as time behind bars.
“There is no nice ending to these,which is why,again,we want to get the message out that people need to contain their dogs. We’re dealing with too many of these,” Irwin said.
“People can get fined up to $20,000 and there can actually be jail time if someone’s found to even be inciting their dog. It’s very significant.”
Irwin said he was not aware if the dog’s owners were home at the time of the attack.
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