AUSTRALIA -- It wasn't until he mauled a terrified four-year-old girl to death that authorities realised Rex existed.
As far as the suburban Melbourne local council knew, a 17-year-old German shepherd lived at the Lahy Street, St Albans home with Rex's owners, the Josevskis.
Rex, a male pit bull, was not registered with the local council, had no microchip and was not desexed.
His only contact with any sort of authority figure had been an occasional visit from a mobile vet.
Rex was given to his owner Nick Josevski by his cousin about four years before the attack.
In August last year, when Rex escaped his backyard and mauled Ayen Chol to death, registration papers still recorded that a German shepherd lived at the Josevskis' home.
That dog was long dead.
Had his owners made a simple paperwork change and had authorities known of Rex's existence the tragedy might never have happened.
Pitbulls are classified as a restricted breed and if Rex had been registered he would have been required to be desexed and subject to strict fencing requirements.
Rex would not have been able to escape through a malfunctioning roller door.
An inquest in the Victorian Coroners Court this week has looked into what lessons can be learned from Ayen's death, and what could be done to prevent future attacks.
Once Rex escaped the backyard, tragedy unfolded before his owners realised he was missing.
On the street he growled and showed his teeth as he charged at Anglina Mayout, Achol Mawier and their children.
As they fled inside a house the dog followed.
He attacked Ms Mayout's five-year-old daughter Nyadeng and then Ms Mayout, biting and injuring both of them.
Ayen was holding onto her mother Jacklin Ancaito's leg tightly.
"She was very scared and she was screaming," Ms Ancaito said in a statement tendered at the inquest.
The dog then grabbed Ayen by the face and neck and pulled her away from her mother.
"When the dog first grabbed my daughter I heard her scream once and I never heard her scream again," Ms Ancaito said.
The dog shook Ayen from side to side and dragged her backwards into the kitchen.
Ms Ancaito hit the dog and tried to pull it away, but it would not let go of Ayen.
"With all the blood and the injuries, I knew my daughter was dead," she said.
Ayen's death has already seen legislative change. Owners whose dogs kill someone can now face up to 10 years in prison.
Under the old legislation one of Rex's owners, Lazor Josevski, was fined $11,000 for Ayen's death.
The inquest has looked at whether any other changes may prevent future attacks.
Council officers told the court there were only two ways they could have discovered Rex's existence - if a neighbour had alerted them to him, or if he had been discovered while walking on the street.
Questions have been asked about why vet Michael Beattie visited the dog six times and did not report to authorities that the dog was in breach of the law, because it was unregistered and not desexed.
Dr Beattie said he had no obligation to report the dog.
"I have certainly never been informed of any legal obligation," he told the inquest.
Asked if he had a moral obligation, he replied that he was not sure how to answer.
John Petroro, a team leader at Brimbank City Council, in whose area the attack on Ayen took place, said mandatory reporting by vets would be welcome. He dismissed suggestions that it might discourage dog owners from going to the vet.
But others, including the Australian Veterinary Association, say the proposal is unworkable.
The association's Victorian president Susan Maastricht says it is simply too hard for vets to determine what is and isn't a restricted breed dog.
"There is a problem in so much as the notion that we would be able to say categorically that it is a pitbull terrier," she told AAP.
"There is a pretty significant amount of evidence that dogs get called all sorts of things based on physical appearance."
There are fears dog owners won't go to vets if they think they'll be dobbed in to authorities, and then there are the safety concerns.
She says in New Zealand, where there is compulsory reporting of animal mistreatment, vets have been threatened.
The body representing pit bull owners is also against the proposal.
American Pit Bull Terrier Club of Australia president Colin Muir believes authorities are using the tragedy of Ayen's death to politicise the issue and demonise the pit bull.
Mr Muir also believes it would be impossible for vets to say definitively whether a dog was a pit bull or not.
"There is no way that you can look at it and say this is what it is or this is what it isn't. DNA won't tell you," he said.
"People assume because a vet's a vet that they've got some ability to understand what is and what isn't a particular breed of dog and I tell you they've none, they've got no idea."
Both Mr Muir and Dr Maastricht agree the focus should be about educating pet owners about being responsible, rather than targeting a particular breed of dog.
But the focus of the government has been on the pit bull, which is one of five restricted breeds in Victoria.
Owning a restricted breed dog that was not in Victoria by September 2010 is prohibited.
Government, veterinarians and pit bull owners all agree that something must be done to prevent future attacks.
Just what the answer is remains unresolved.
Coroner Kim Parkinson will deliver her finding at a later date.
(news.com.au - August 31, 2012)
