Leeton Council completes investigation, won’t release outcomes

You may remember the story of ‘Buddy’*, a dog collected by a Leeton Council Officer who instead of impounding the dog and allowing the owner a chance to claim him, drove the dog to the tip and shot him in the head.

Leeton Council has now completed the report into why Buddy was not held for the state mandated holding period for stray animals, however according to the local news, it won’t be releasing details of the investigation;

Leeton Shire Council has refused to confirm if a ranger who shot a microchipped pet dog at the tip in January will keep his job after the release of an external report into the incident this week.

On Tuesday, Leeton Shire Council held an extraordinary meeting where the report commissioned to SINC solutions and its recommendations were discussed.
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In a statement to The Irrigator, council general manager John Batchelor said “matters will be addressed regarding policies, procedures and the need for better public education in relation to the ownership of animals.”

Right. Because a lost pet – loved and microchipped – who is shot and dumped rather than brought to a shelter because staff are too lazy to do their job, is remedied best by a intensive game of community blame… bad public, bad.

And besides, they’re already on the case;

The release of the report was delayed twice, with Mr Batchelor saying it would not be made available to the public, but he wanted to assure the community “matters outlined in the report are already being worked on by council staff,” and “a number of policies and plans will shortly be put forward to council”.

Reassuring, and you know, no rush. It’s not like other people’s pets are dying while Council work on strategies. Oh wait, yes they are;

The report comes on the heels of another alleged dog shooting** incident by a Leeton ranger which saw a family pet which was registered and micro-chipped destroyed.

Another two dogs in fact, both of which seem to have been killed before their mandatory hold period was up and seemingly with no effort at all made to find them new homes, or place them with rescue groups. Suggesting that even while under active investigation, the staff at this pound cannot be trusted not to kill people’s pets.

Leeton ratepayers need to demand that a full overhaul takes place at the pound, not tomorrow, but today. They are simply are unable, or unwilling to do the job that the community is paying them to do.

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*Buddy is actually a girl dog, named Indie. Her details were changed to protect her owner’s privacy as she tried to get answers from council – I have now been given permission to identify her.

**I have been advised that these two dogs weren’t shot, but killed by injection. The newspaper’s quote is inaccurate.