RSPCA warns of dog deaths in Richardson

Inappropriate said :

I bet they could narrow down the suspects by looking at the list of people who have made noise complaints to TAMS about neighboring dogs in the area.

The type of meathead caveman who could do such a thing to an animal would not be the type of person to follow regular procedure by making an official complaint to TAMS…unfortunately. I would be totally devastated if this ever happened to my furry, little buddy…and the perp would want to make sure they could run really, really fast because I would be after their guts for garters.

Mr Evil said :

I know, make the residents of Pritchard Cct an ultimatum: if the nasty bastard who is baiting dogs isn’t handed over to Police within 3 days, then Denis Ferguson (the notorious pdfile) will be relocated from his Govt flat in Sydney to a house in Pritchard Cct next week!

Oh, god. Don’t give them any more ideas . . .

old canberran said :

I’m surprised it doesn’t happen more frequently. Why some people actually own a dog is beyond me. We have a situation next door where they bought a dog for their 16 year old daughter a few months ago. The parents now both work and the daughter calls into their shop after school so no one is home from 8am to 7pm so the dog is home alone bored stiff and never gets taken for a walk. Needless to say it barks at anything passing within a meter of their property and that’s starting to drive me up the wall.
I imagine this scenario is typical of a lot of houses in Canberra thus driving some people to take action, albeit illegal, to eliminate the problem.

barks at anything passing within a meter… like the gas man. ah the punniness of it all.

I’m surprised it doesn’t happen more frequently. Why some people actually own a dog is beyond me. We have a situation next door where they bought a dog for their 16 year old daughter a few months ago. The parents now both work and the daughter calls into their shop after school so no one is home from 8am to 7pm so the dog is home alone bored stiff and never gets taken for a walk. Needless to say it barks at anything passing within a meter of their property and that’s starting to drive me up the wall.
I imagine this scenario is typical of a lot of houses in Canberra thus driving some people to take action, albeit illegal, to eliminate the problem.

Gungahlin Al said :

We have received corro from a Gungahlin resident that they’ve received a threat in their letterbox in similar circumstances.

I know this sounds pretty targeted but would it be worth letting surrounding residents know about this just in case? My dog’s likely to chew stuff if left inside but if there was any inkling of poisonings in my area I’d have no hesitation to keep him inside while we’re at work. This is one of my biggest fears as a dog owner, especially seeing as any dog seems to be a target, not just problem barkers 🙁

We have received corro from a Gungahlin resident that they’ve received a threat in their letterbox in similar circumstances.

Problem is that often owners don’t know, and for the person stuck at home during the day, barking dogs all around setting each other off can drive you balmy.

Here’s an idea: talk to your neighbours and try sort it out. If they are abusive or non-co-operative, then let the ACT rangers know through Canberra Connect 132281.

That said, I’ve had cause to complain to a neighbour once about their doberman while they were off running their prawn trawler every night. Even standing outside and letting them hear it through the phone didn’t convince them of the problem. A week later the police visited investigating the dog having been poisoned. While they were talking to me, I realised they were looking over my shoulder at the box of Ratsak on the kitchen window sill! I had been trying to get rid of a rat in the ceiling – an ongoing issue when you live in the middle of cane fields… It wasn’t me that did the dog in, and there was only one other house within 1km of the problem (and they were much closer) so I’m pretty sure who the guilty party was.

I bet they could narrow down the suspects by looking at the list of people who have made noise complaints to TAMS about neighboring dogs in the area.

hk0reduck said :

If correct, “Four dogs in neighbouring backyards” in the ABC Article pretty much confirms it as an extremely targetted attack.

Penalty for poisoning a dog and it subsequently dying is a maximum of 1 year in prison and/or $11,682.00 (100 penalty units) per offence. You can find more info here: http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/act/consol_act/awa1992128/s12a.html

Now that’s a nice penalty, particularly if applied per offence. Someone should be very nervous.

fnaah said :

Absolutely awful, I’m so glad that I (and my dog) have moved out of Richardson.

Anyone know the maximum penalty for this kind of atrocity?

hopefully the person in question will be caught and name publicised, the penalty will probably be revealed when someone finds the body

This is totally barbaric and down right cruel. I hope someone knows something about it because it’s obviously a target on dogs that are in secure back yards. If you ask me, Richardson is becoming the ‘hole’ of canberra lately with cars being set alight and now this. We need more Police presence but that’s just too much work for them.

I’d be looking at one of the neighbours whose house backs on to one of the “neighbouring backyards”.

I know, make the residents of Pritchard Cct an ultimatum: if the nasty bastard who is baiting dogs isn’t handed over to Police within 3 days, then Denis Ferguson (the notorious pdfile) will be relocated from his Govt flat in Sydney to a house in Pritchard Cct next week!

“Penalty for poisoning a dog and it subsequently dying is a maximum of 1 year in prison and/or $11,682.00 (100 penalty units) per offence.”

Or, as we all know in the ACT Court system – a slap with a wet bus ticket and a promise not to do it again.

This post was a bit low on the details. But yes, it looks like baiting.

Here are two brief (but slightly more informative) news articles.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/09/16/2687188.htm?site=canberra

http://canberra.iprime.com.au/index.php/news/prime-news/dog-poisonings-in-richardson,164261

If correct, “Four dogs in neighbouring backyards” in the ABC Article pretty much confirms it as an extremely targetted attack.

Penalty for poisoning a dog and it subsequently dying is a maximum of 1 year in prison and/or $11,682.00 (100 penalty units) per offence. You can find more info here: http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/act/consol_act/awa1992128/s12a.html

Im also curious if this is a poisoning as I have friends who live in the neighbourhood. Having said that, ‘poisoning’ can take many forms though, as a previous RiotACT thread covered dogs being potentially poisoned by mushrooms, or some other natural growning thing they thought smelt good enough to eat. Hopefully the RSPCA comes up with an answer quickly, and if a person or people are delibrately doing this that theyre brought to justice swiftly.

Poison?

Look, some people’s dogs can be a right pain in the arse, but I’d never condon killing the poor bloody things.

Has the RSPCA figured out what is killing the dogs? Is someone throwing down baits int eh area?

Has DAS had reports of nuisance dogs barking on this street?

Potentially the person complaining the loudest may have decided to take matters into their own hands.

What the?

What’s causing this? Has the RSPCA commented on the cause of death?

Absolutely awful, I’m so glad that I (and my dog) have moved out of Richardson.

Anyone know the maximum penalty for this kind of atrocity?

Are they being poisoned? I would bet that it is some cranky bat that lives in the area who doesn’t like dogs or barking dogs or something.
They would want to hope they don’t get caught if they did that to my dog.

A fifth dog has now popped its clogs.

I hope they catch these people, my brother in laws dog was cought up in this, looks like he will be ok though.

We had ours poisoned in August, lost one & nearly lost the other (after a late night visit to the awesome vets in Braddon & $2000). We now have the most spoilt Dalmation in Tuggers.

I am lost for words as to why people think this is a good idea at the time.