You mean you didn’t want dogs gunned down in the street?

In April last year the courts in Victoria were hearing a case of two dogs who were known roamers, breaking into the yard of another owner and killing the five resident miniature dogs. The Lost Dogs Home used this as an opportunity to rail against ‘evil’ pit bulls (even though the dogs in question were staffies) and to support the government’s planned legislation giving police powers to gun down roaming pets.

In October the same year, The Lost Dogs Home used an attack on a dog walker as an opportunity to call to extend its efforts from banning all pit bulls, to all pit bull crosses and again supporting the government’s planned legislation to give police powers to shoot pets at large.

When the laws passed in June, it was only a matter of time before we started to see the implications play out. Police with little knowledge of dog behaviour and under intense pressure from the public to dispatch animals deemed ‘dangerous’ as swiftly as possible. And yesterday it happened.

The video below shows a dog reported to have ‘attacked’ someone and running at large. First it is chased by police. Then it is chased by more police. Who hit it with batons. Then they try and hit it with a car – twice. Then a ranger picks it up by the scruff and puts it in the back of a van.

Meanwhile, the police are chasing another dog from the same incident. They chase it to its home, where they bail it up. They take some puppies from the yard. Then then return to shoot it and another resident dog.

Now obviously these police saw crazed dangerous dogs that needed to die. I personally see frightened animals running from people and cars. Watch the video and make your own assessment.

The Lost Dogs Home have sourced this video from Channel 9 and are hosting this video on their YouTube account. Why? Because they want you to forget they were instrumental in whipping up the ‘pit bull’ hysteria in the state and now paint themselves as taking a more compassionate stance. They want to use this video, which can only be described as animal abuse pornography, to drive visitors to their website where they can shake their head and purport to care for the dogs;

No Winners in Melton Dog Tragedy

The shooting of two dogs after they were involved in a vicious attack was an avoidable tragedy says Dr Graeme Smith the Managing Director of The Lost Dogs’ Home.

“We need to be very sad for today’s events. There are no winners in this terrible ordeal. Police were forced to take action for public safety meaning the dogs were destroyed in horrific circumstances.”

The authorities involved say this was completely avoidable; ‘the owner could have simply kept his dogs contained’. There is no doubt that this is true. But you set a dangerous precedent when you decide that animals should be afforded absolutely no protection at all if they’re owned by losers, or if they happen to escape.

Does Council’s obligation to act in a humane fashion end the moment your dog is out of its yard? Your dog is roaming so it’s simply too bad if police hit it, run it over or shoot it? Do authorities have any obligation at all to use the minimum force required to contain an animal? Is there a requirement for ‘containment’ be the goal – assuming the public is no longer at risk once the animal is contained – and if so, why did the dogs have to be shot once they were back home in their yard? If public safety is the issue, could the situation have calmed down and non-lethal methods have been used once the dogs were off the street?

The Lost Dogs Home thinks we have a short memory. They have been chasing this hysterical approach to dog management and now we have it, we should not allow them to morph themselves as ‘animal advocates’. Victorians are living the future they drove us to. Dogs are being gunned down in the street.