16 September 2009

RSPCA warns of dog deaths in Richardson

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RSPCA ACT CEO Michael Linke advised Riot late last night (Tuesday 15th) that a fourth dog has died in Pritchard Circuit Richardson.

The RSPCA urges people in the area to secure dogs and inspect backyards prior to going to work this morning.

RSPCA is very concerned for dogs in this vicinity.

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Rather than knee-jerk ‘slit the b*****ds throat’ vigilante responses, maybe a bit of thought as to WHY he/she did this is needed.

Wherever you go in ACT there is the background noise (maybe ‘music’ to some, but indeed ‘noise’ to others) of dogs barking. At night we now wear ear-plugs to block out the constant noise of barking/yapping dogs and are seriously considering moving out of ACT.

Maybe some debate is needed about whether ACT should be considered a ‘dog lovers’ territory whereby if you live here you must accept that there will be the noise/music of dogs barking constantly and if you dont like it then go live elsewhere. Or, if ACT should consider dog noise as unacceptable and give the Police/TAMs the power to act decisively to stop anti-social dog noise.

I personally consider owners who allow their dogs to bark as anti-social and in the same league as someone who plays loud music constantly. They have no regard or respect for their neighbours and so should be sanctioned as such. However, I also realise that the opposite argument is that this is a free country and if I dont like it then go elsewhere (and good riddance! :-)). However, until this debate is had and dog owners accept that their dog/s could well part of the issue (a house near us has constant barking whenever the owners are not there and so they vehemently deny any problem! Neighbours dont say anything as they dont want any possible conflict on their own doorsteps) there WILL be more cases of dog poisoning and eventually some kid will die after picking up some poisoned bait.

Clown Killer, this has me curious. I have no doubt that the people who do this kind of thing only do so because they think they can’t be found. What would your methods be for finding them out?

Assuming it was targetted you’d probably already have a list of possible suspects in the street. Then I’d just wait for garbage day, stay home that day and while everyone else was at work I’d go through their rubbish bin looking for the ham + rat poison wrappers or whatever combo they used.

Then I’d go vigilante.

This is the thing about this, most of the dogs poisoned, even the Jack Russell were not really yappy dogs. They barked but not to the extent that would annoy the daylights out of you.

I spent all last Saturday afternoon at the brother in laws place working in the back yard, the neighbours were not home & that little Jack Russell didnt bark once.

Nor did I hear any other dogs barking incessantly.

Obviously his dogs were quiet as we were there.

He has never had a complaint about his dogs barking.

I really think this was a random act of dickheadery.

j from the block5:42 pm 17 Sep 09

An endless source of frustration for me, when working the 11pm-7am stint for Canberra Disconnect, was when callers rang upset about barking dogs we had to advise them to either keep a diary of the barking, time, date, noise level etc, and after doing this for a few nights we would arrange a ranger to come out, assuming they did not lose patience with the idiotic process before then.
On my last shift I did mention to a number of people that actually getting off the phone, and interacting with their neighbours, although a pretty foreign concept, can sometimes do wonders for issues, and relations.
I own dogs. I hate “endlessly” barking dogs. Especially little yappy dogs. And while I have tossed the odd bone and squeaky toy into a backyard (to give the little bugger something to do other than yap) baiting a dog should be punishable by something truly unspeakable.

>What would your methods be for finding them out?

Record a yappy dog for a longish period. Set up the recorder to play on a looping mp3 system in Richardson.
Set up a camera with 24 hours a day surveillance, with night vision.

And wait for the recording to be baited.

Clown Killer said :

… and if they think they cant be found … their kidding themselves.

Clown Killer, this has me curious. I have no doubt that the people who do this kind of thing only do so because they think they can’t be found. What would your methods be for finding them out?

Clown Killer said :

I’d have no problem with killing the person responsible for this. No fuss. No grandstanding. Simply slit their ******* useless throat in their sleep … and if they think they cant be found … their kidding themselves.

I can see you’ve probably killed many clowns in the past.

V twin venom1:13 pm 17 Sep 09

Oh come on Clown Killer, tell us what you really think. If only you have been able to make some reference to him being a Clown.

Oh and you spell it “they’re”

By the way, reasonable solution .

Clown Killer11:44 pm 16 Sep 09

I’d have no problem with killing the person responsible for this. No fuss. No grandstanding. Simply slit their ******* useless throat in their sleep … and if they think they cant be found … their kidding themselves.

The person who is doing this, would not survive the lynch mob that will upon their head.

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.

Trunking symbols5:04 pm 16 Sep 09

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.

old canberran3:47 pm 16 Sep 09

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 🙁

Gungahlin Al2:13 pm 16 Sep 09

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.

Inappropriate1:57 pm 16 Sep 09

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.

V twin venom1:46 pm 16 Sep 09

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.

Muttsybignuts12:43 pm 16 Sep 09

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.

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