THE Bingara ranger who shot a dog he deemed dangerous would have had no choice but to take that action, the Gwydir Shire Council general manager says.
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Max Eastcott says there was evidence the dog was aggressive, had been out of its yard and had attacked another dog.
He said it was a terrible thing to have to shoot an animal but it would be even worse if the dog went on to attack a person.
Bingara resident Lee Fleming’s dogs Charlie and Buster were seized after a neighbour complained.
Charlie was reportedly too aggressive to be removed from the ranger’s vehicle at the holding facility, so was shot on the back of the ute.
Ms Fleming says she should have been consulted before this action, and has been getting legal advice.
Mr Eastcott said the council and the police had a statutory responsibility to act on a complaint of a dog attack.
“The ranger responded to the call from the neighbour and saw himself there was indeed injury to the dog.”
When he tried to get Charlie off the ute, the ranger had to ask another council staffer for help, Mr Eastcott said.
“Even with the other employee, the dog was still so aggressive he made the decision it had to be euthanised.”
Mr Eastcott said the ranger and police had the ability to make such a judgment and “the staff member hasn’t got any reason to hurt a dog or go out of their way to do things which are inappropriate”.
“Given the seriousness attached to the attack, the council was in a position where it was not really appropriate to leave the dogs there without going through the process of establishing whether they were dangerous dogs,” Mr Eastcott said.
“We served a notice on Ms Fleming for the other dog, Buster and she put up quite a strong case and we decide not to declare him dangerous.
“If we hadn’t taken it seriously and we had returned Charlie, what if he had attacked a person the next day on the street?”
The ranger reportedly knew nothing of the case of Bingara’s Julie Kilgour, who claims the ranger returned her dachshund to her yard by dropping him over the fence, injuring the dog’s back and leading to his euthanasia.