Good to see a citizen group asking Council for more proactivity around the dog problem.
Our personal experience as responsible dog co-owners has been pretty er… awful.
My partner had her leg broken by an uncontrolled dog on Belongil. Six months in bed. A friend had her back broken on Seven Mile by a large uncontrolled dog, the owner quickly disappearing.
Our son’s dog was saved from a homeless man’s pit bull when the pit bull had the chi’s head in his mouth. Only a human-dog attack saved the chi, leaving him with a pierced neck and severe shock.
Another friend’s chi was recently killed by a staffy cross, owned by an itinerant van owner.
We’ve talked a lot about it and we do recognise the problem of the travelling single (usually) man who sees his dog as his protector. Our ranger has expressed his frustration at the inability to effect change for many reasons: the owner disappears, the owner lies about his identity, the law is too onerous to follow through, getting evidence in a highly charged attack moment is almost impossible.
Sadly, Belongil Beach is where most attacks and accidents happen.
We are grateful for everything council has done so far but frankly, the homeless-owned dog is a problem I cannot see being easily improved, loaded as it is with psychological trauma and violence issues.
Every time we drive past Cavanbah Sports Centre we look at a semi-treed area just near the road and think ‘Dog Exercise Area!’ It’s accessible, it’s the right size, it has enough trees for dogs to pee on… all it needs is a fence.
I would love to make contact with the people working with Council and I’m sure many other dog owners would too!
