Saturday, February 2, 2013

Dogs put down after attack on teenager

AUSTRALIA -- The two dogs who attacked a 17-year-old girl on Tuesday around the North Wall area of Mackay Harbour have been euthanised.

The teenager, who had serious puncture wounds to her arms and legs, left Mackay Base Hospital yesterday after spending two nights recovering, a hospital spokeswoman said.

On Tuesday just after 12.30pm the 17-year-old girl had been transported from the Harbour car park to Mackay Base Hospital by the Queensland Ambulance Service (QAS), a QAS spokesman said.

After the attack occurred on Tuesday, local laws officers had patrolled the area to search extensively for the dogs.

They searched from the Harbour North Wall area to Slade Point, where it was thought the teenager had parked her car.

The teenager was able to successfully identify the two dogs that attacked her yesterday, Mackay Regional Council Health and Regulatory manager Craig Shepherd said.

They were euthanised yesterday afternoon, he said.

"The dogs were both registered, desexed males, one Staffordshire terrier type and one Staffordshire terrier cross type," Mr Shepherd said.

Council had no previous issues or incidents recorded involving either of the dogs, Mr Shepherd said.

He said the owners of the dogs were unaware that their dogs had been involved in the attack and were extremely co-operative during the identification process.

"We are still considering as to whether any further action will be taken in regards to this matter."

"Any penalties to the owner ... we'll look at that over the next few days.
"We'll have to look at other previous cases involving dog attacks on people and what we've done in those situations as to have a consistent approach."

He said the council had also received calls from the public about the incident

(Mackay Daily Mercury - Feb 2, 2013)

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