August 14th 2006 Wallaby killer still loose A dog witnessed by a Horseshoe Bay resident taking away a young wallaby after killing a possum last week was again wandering loose behind Dent Street in Horseshoe Bay. The dog was photographed at 5.15pm this afternoon wandering about, off leash, in land adjacent to the National Park. The photographer told magnetictimes.com, "There were two large dogs roaming the butterfly walk behind Dent Street this arvo. Got a photo of one of them (attached). This is the dog that killed the possum and wallaby. Obviously the owner hasn't got the message." Last week magnetictimes.com began a photo file page of dogs off their leashes on Magnetic Island. The dog seen out again this evening For more information about why we have taken this step and to see the other dogs on the file (read here). To make a comment see below

Wallaby killer still loose

7 comments

Wendy T August 16th 2006

Seems as if this issue has attracted more reader correspondence than any for a long time. What, I wonder, is TCC doing about the apparently constant disregard for its regulations?

Rando Wood August 16th 2006

I suppose some people would say the Adelaide Hills dog situation has no relation to the Magnetic Island dog situation. Perhaps. However, I have found far too many road kill kangaroos, echidnas, and the odd koala to not respond. I have had the unfortunate privilege of finding orphaned live joeys in their dead mother\'s pouches and passed them on to Fauna Rescue. Feedback tells me they are alive and well, looking for new homes. The dead koalas and echidnas fare not so well. What I can say, or quote from a local farmer\'s mouth, is \'if your dog is on my property I\'ll shoot the ****** thing\'. Between the local council and the local farmers, no dog is safe if it not on the other end of a leash that is on the other end of the owner\'s arm. It seems pretty harsh to \'pet lovers\' that a farmer will destroy a dog on sight, or the council will impound (expensively for the owner) on sight a stray dog, but I\'m sure lots of the local native fauna breathe a sigh of relief when they see the local council officer, or farmer, doing his rounds. Yes, we do lose far too many of our beloved furry friends to traffic, but please, Maggie Islanders, do all you can to protect them from uncontrolled dogs, etc. RW

Mark Preece August 17th 2006

"I have already provided my views in response to the earlier article and urge the editor to continue with this story. As a visitor and soon to be resident of this beautiful island it is astounding how this can so easily be allowed to continue. Try letting a dog off the leash near the fairy penguins in Vic and you would be locked up. We need a solution based approach. Retrospective legislation is unfair. Can we prevent breeding on the island and not allow registration of new dogs onto the island so we phase out? Is a compromise for any additions to be only very small breed dogs physically incapable of doing much harm to local fauna? Cats surely have to be a no and similarly phased out. The curlews, wallabies, koalas etc are jewels to this island and we need to ensure they survive. We allow dogs and large ones at that to roam on the flats amongst curlews and we ignorantly feed them chips? We will have nothing but pet rocks soon on the island, nice ones at that, but they don

norm brice August 17th 2006

The problem is one of dog control and liability. A trained dog can be under control whilst off leash whilst in the company of its handler. All dogs should be registered and micro chipped to enable identification of the person/handler responsible for it. Other than that we need only have three other dog control laws, one that the owner/carer is responsible to clean up after their dog, two that the owner/carer must keep the dog under control regardless whether the animal is on private or public property, and three all dogs must be de-sexed except for registered breeders. Control may be exercised by physical restraint i.e. in an enclosure, on a leash or by command. If an unaccompanied dog is free outside its home then it is not under control and should be impounded the dog can be identified from its chip and the owners billed a fee for the capture of the dog. The fee should increase for repeat offences. Councils have inadvertently created a dilemma by creating "off leash areas". They probably have an implied liability for any damage done by dogs in these areas. Hence their reluctance to provide these areas. The responsibility should lie solely with the owners to have their dogs under control at all times. There are dog training clubs to train both the dogs and their handlers and it is quite amazing how little effort is required to achieve a well behaved dog. It is also a great bonding experience and it is fun. The joy of the unconditional love and companionship given by a dog is a worthwhile experience and should not be denied. My de-sexed micro chipped dog Cassie has passed level 3 obedience and we have been attending agility classes. She is reasonably well behaved and will improve as she matures. The training regime ensured that she peacefully coexists with the wallabies, curlews etc at our Horseshoe Bay property. We exercise on Horseshoe Bay beach early mornings on most weekends and see many other responsible owners and dogs doing likewise. The dogs are controlled either by command or physically and are no threat to people or wildlife. It would be a pity to deny responsible dog owners and their dogs access to public areas because of a misunderstanding over the meaning of control. Island wildlife is under much greater threat from irresponsible driving than pets. Many residents and visitors would be unaware that the council do a patrol each morning to remove the previous nights roadkill. It would be interesting to see the numbers involved, maybe MT could obtain and publish the details weekly?

Valerie Cote August 23rd 2006

I think the dog owners should be responsible and If that first dog was seen killing an animal and taking away a wallaby then why not get a pic of that? Did it really happen. Leash laws and penalties enforced is whats needed. Its not the dogs fault they do what comes naural. Remember, man turned them into domestic pets so lets take care of them now that they need us.

mick price August 27th 2006

dear Valerie , dogs off a leash on a public bech or land is irresponsible , i have often had the experience of unleashed dogs confronting me and my dog whilst i walk with my dog on leash ! you are kidding yourself if you think a command will stop the dog when it sees another dog or wallaby , get real and be responsible for your actions

tiffany August 29th 2007

Valerie, do you really want to see a picture of a dog taking a wallaby? I am a wildlife carer and often take care of at least 6 wallabies and kangaroos at any one time. 2 years ago the neighbours dog DUG under our 6 foot fence and killed 2 of the joeys in my backyard. I was horrified and yet the local council did nothing about it. On another occasion earlier this year, the other neighbours 2 cross breed dogs CLIMBED over our 6 foot fence, and chased around the 4 wallabies in our care. Once again I was horrified and once again the local council did nothing about it. I know exactly what it going to happen. Councils don't care about the native wildlife but in a few years time when it is almost all gone they will wonder why. One more point regarding that, my dad and I recently saw an echidna crossing the road into bush land. This land was about to be developed, so thinking we would do the right thing we told the local council that there were echidnas in there and that they should check it out. However 2 days later much to our disapproval there were bull dozers trashing the place! (Abridged Ed)