By RUSSELL BENNETT
A GEMBROOK family is distraught after a vicious attack from what they believe to be a pack of dogs left four of their pet sheep mauled to death.
Joe Wardale was driving his tractor across his Boyd Road property recently and saw one of his sheep lying motionless at the bottom of the hill.
“It was highly unusual,” he said.
“About halfway up the paddock I could see the alpaca and one lamb left so I knew something was wrong. There’d usually be five sheep and one alpaca.
“I locked the dogs up and went back down and, just by skirting around, I found two more sheep. They’d been destroyed and one lamb I didn’t actually find.”
Mr Wardale said he then saw three dogs – “black and tan kelpie-type dogs” – on his property the next morning.
“When I saw them I would have said they weren’t wild dogs, but in saying that there are a lot of wild dogs out in the bush,” he said.
“They just didn’t look wild and they weren’t overly scared.
“Normally once a wild dog sees you it’s gone. I ran out on the deck and yelled and they took off, but it wasn’t instant.
“They seemed too used to humans to be wild.”
Mr Wardale’s fear is that the three dogs may belong to other local residents, and if so “they’ve got three dogs like these that would have come home covered in blood”.
“You don’t want this to happen, and if it’s wild dogs doing it it’s harder to tackle, but if these are pets then people are just letting their dogs roam,” Mr Wardale said.
“It wasn’t long ago our dogs got out for the day and we were beside ourselves.
“Things happen – dogs get out, but this was a frenzy.”
Mr Wardale said he had hired someone to lay a series of traps on his property in case the dogs returned, but they haven’t yet.
“There aren’t enough baiting programs out there and it’s been left to people like us – the private landholders – to do the trapping,” he said, adding that he wanted local residents to be vigilant when it came to looking out for their own livestock.
Mr Wardale has been in touch with both the Department of Environment and Primary Industries (DEPI) and the Cardinia Shire Council in relation to the issue.
The council’s compliance services co-ordinator Shannon Maynard said: “Mr Wardale contacted council regarding the attack and has spoken with compliance services officers a number of times.
“At this stage it remains unclear whether the dogs are wild or domestic.
“Mr Wardale has placed flyers in the community and has also given council details of a property where it is believed dogs matching his description of the attacking dogs may be being kept. The matter remains an open investigation.
“We have a dog trap which can be hired, if dogs are problematic and property owners do not know where they come from.
“Private landholders should contact DEPI, or privately deal with nuisance animals as they would any pest animals – by contacting a licensed pest controller.”
Council officers are responsible with enforcing the Domestic Animals Act, which only covers attacks by domestic dogs, while wild dogs are dealt with through the DEPI.
Anyone with information should contact either the council or the DEPI.
