Pailin

I would also hand it in and let the pound staff know you would be interested in helping the dog if it goes unclaimed (read: willing to take the dog). If the dog ends up unclaimed you can take it home and surrender it to rescue. Maybe start making some enquiries here or with local rescues before you get that far to avoid being stuck with this dog (unless you actually intend on keeping it)

I would also hazard a guess that they will not bother to bail the dog out. there are extra fees if dogs are not de-sexed, chipped and council regoed.

This would be a good option EXCEPT the last time I tried that, with an extremely emaciated but very sweet dog they basically, and very bluntly, told me that once I handed the dog over to them it was none of my business. They even refused to let me know the outcome when I rang up a couple of days later wondering what had happened to him and I was very understanding of the possibility that he may have been PTS due to health concerns surrounding his appalling state....they simply refused to tell me anything and told me to mind my own business.

I would like to put my name down for him- he really touched me and I really did feel a strong connection to him, however my own fences are in need of repair at the moment- awaiting my landlord (my girl is not a wanderer and has no interest in escape thankfully), I could not afford his adoption fee and I have a feeling that he is too high an energy dog and we wouldn't be able to accomodate his obvious high exercise needs.

Depends what your local pound is like. If they are the type to kill everything because it is easier than trying to re-home then I would probably give it a bit longer and try a few more times with notes in the letterbox. If the dog is flea ridden and wandering chances are the owners wouldn't bother reclaiming it from the pound if it was impounded. Its a hard one - you feel so sorry for the dog having such idiot owners.

This would be my worry. The local pound is the RSPCA Dakabin, 3 days is their holding period I think and I am not sure how he would go with their temp test. On the one hand he is very skittish and nervous but on the other hand he is a big love bug once he settles with you and he is a "breed" that is generally viewed as rehomable.

We are residential, not too close to the major roads but there is a lot of local traffic in the area.

There is a dog in our neighbourhood that is ALWAYS out wandering. It used to be two dogs, one Border Collie mix and another Staffy- Bull breed type mix and when approached the staffy type would charge at you growling which was intimidating and prevented me from catching either of them. The collie on the other hand is very nervous and submissive...

Anyhow I noticed the BC out by himself quite a lot recently, have no idea what happened to the other dog, so today as I was pulling up at home after dropping the kids at school I noticed he was out AGAIN and I had the time to coax him to me (the border collie). He seems to be a lovely dog once he realised that I wasn't a threat and absolutely basked in some pats and rub downs. He has a collar on but no tags, which given how frequently he escapes seems bloody slack on the owners part, and he is absolutely infested with fleas. HUGE freaking fleas. I felt so bad for him I was seriously tempted to bath him but instead I asked my neighbour if she knew what house he came from and I walked him home.

There was nobody home when I got there but the gate was WIDE open- nothing wrong with it just looks like someone has opened it or left it open, and there was another gate, a double gate, that was obviously his usual escape route as they had tried to nail it shut with a board and had a bit of chicken wire in front of it trying to block the gap from where he pushes it open. Even at a glance you could tell it was completely ineffectual. I popped the dog in, shut the 2 bolts on the good gate, tried to shut the other gates gap as much as possible and left a note on their door letting them know that I found and returned him and that I would be surrendering him to the pound next time I found him out and to please treat his flea infestation (bossy/rude/judgmental I know but it was BAD- I haven't seen one that bad in a long time).

Not even an hour later he is at my front door all waggily bummed. This time he definitely escaped through the double gate gap where it was sagging open, I am fairly sure he pushes it until the gap is big enough and the simply jumps over the chicken wire mesh (that would only be hip height). So I grabbed some zip ties that I have laying around, walked him home and zip tied the gate shut at the middle. Seems to have done the trick, no amount of pushing will make it gap and it was a simple solution.

Now should I report this to the council? The inadequate fencing? They really need to fix their fence and should definitely have tags on him at least? If I see him out again should I return him or stick to my threat and surrender him? He is a LOVELY dog, he literally heeled whilst walking off leash when I directed him to and I am a perfect stranger to him...he obviously has a lot of potential. My neighbour has previously spoken to them (gotten into an argument with them) about the dog always being out and whilst there have obviously been attempts at blocking the gap they aren't effectual and the owners know it because I saw the man chasing his dog home not more than a week ago. The dog was out 3 times last week that I saw, I saw him out yesterday and then today twice already.

TIA

This could have all been done in a more humane and friendly way.. But RSPCA are too power hungry, and in my opinion over step the mark when it suits them.

I actually agree with this to an extent, I would have liked to see the RSPCA trying to work with her to improve the shelter, HOWEVER, we only know from one side's interpretation as to how they were dealt with. How are we to be certain that the RSPCA did not try to get her to improve *this*, cut back on *this* many numbers, comply with *this, this and this* etc and found her to be uncooperative and unwilling to change/bend as it seems many have found her?

Add into an already tense mix, Mark Aldridge, with his expectations of special treatment, ranting, antics and passive aggressive, posturing behavior and it set the entire situation into overdrive.

How do we know that she passed previous inspections with flying colours? How do we know that she has not been given previous chances to fix the place up and failed to do so until the RSPCA felt they had no choice but to go after her legally? How do we know what the previous inspection reports say about the state of the place?

One thing that is abundantly clear is that there is not enough personnel on the property for the number of animals there. This is an absolute no brainer and SHE should be capping her own numbers solely to ensure that the animals already there are getting the care, attention and necessities they need.

If it was a puppy farm being run out of Moorook I can guarantee that NO ONE would be happy with the conditions the dogs are living in and people would be screaming for it to be shut down. Just because it is a rescue and not a puppy farm, does not make the conditions any more acceptable than they would be otherwise.

It is impossible to fully support either side without first knowing ALL the details. Forming opinions and jumping on bandwagons based solely on the say so of one side is naive and pretty ludicrous.

Not saying that I disagree with the charge but I always thought that to get a Murder conviction, intent to kill has to be proven. I would have thought that Manslaughter would have been the better suited charge to the circumstances.

So adora-bull! My favourite breed, aren't they all just gorgeous and so sweet?! :D

"But you cannot make a silk purse out of a sow's ears, as they say, you can try" this one takes the cake gonna go give my sow's ear a pat ha ha really.

Sometimes you just need to accept that some people will never be open to changing their opinions.

I have a mixed breed dog of completely unknown origins. She tends to most often be described as a Bull Arab type and I can truly say that she is a silk purse of unimaginable value. She is amazing.

Do people really think that there were not attacks like this, in equal, similar or higher number even, in the past?

I have no statistics to go from but it seems to me that the greater media attention as well as access to international news ect is WHY we know of all these attacks rather than that they are increasing. In the past they likely never got the same coverage, there was no internet to spread the news and the attacks likely DID still happen but only the localised community would have been aware of them.

I also have to wonder, if we looked at the actual numbers- How many dogs are owned in Australia, how many of each individual breed, and how many of them actually attack- the percentage would be incredibly low in relation to the sheer number of dogs owned in Australia.

I am not saying that that makes this attack ok, it was horrific, BUT more people are injured by other humans, cars, accidents and such than they are by dogs and we need to keep that in mind and not have knee jerk reactions to what is essentially a rare, horrible event. Yes it was preventable, so are the majority of road deaths, and education is certainly something that should be pushed for.

Nothing in this life is risk free, we can try and minimise the risks as much as possible but just like we have violent criminals in society, we will occasionally witness aggressive dogs that do severe damage. Whether that is through poor temperament and breeding or through the way in which they are raised. Even eradicating all bull breeds will never solve this issue, another breed will simply take it's place.

Just thought I would add my input to this post, I have always been an animal lover, but never expected to become a rescuer and such a staunch animal rights activists, let alone spokesperson for Moorook Animal shelter.

I have read a few posts on here and thought a quick explanation may be pertinent, My wife and I many years ago started supporting Willow grove sanctuary, that of Peg Solomon, just a little help here and there fostering, and a few dollars when we had spare.

I visited one and could see Peg, who was then in her 70’s needed a hand around the place, so myself and a few friends jumped in and cleaned up, a few years later it became evident she could no longer run the Sanctuary herself, and Parks and Wildlife would have to put down some of the animals due to issues both moving them any distance and of course re-homing them.

So my wife and I put our hand up, we built a small sanctuary on our own property, and moved those animals in need to our home, our property coincidentally was called Willow wood, so we changed the name to Willow Wood Sanctuary.

We so do some rescues still, but prefer to remain small and out of sight, simply because the costs are far greater than I have anticipated, but we love all the animals and my wife treats them better than some people do their own children.

Over the years I have gained a good name in the political arena, albeit as a wannabee polly, but that has enabled me to lobby for a variety of causes with some media support, so when QLD was flooded out a couple of years ago, I help raise money for the rescue groups over there and several tonnes of feed and supplies.

I did this with a promise from a trucking company to take the goods over and I was to spread the money raised by phone, but once we have everything together the truck company lets us down, as did a few others in relation to goods for the many homeless people that the floods created.

I had publically promised to ensure the money and goods were delivered, so I took my hot rod (work in progress out the shed, managed to borrow a huge trailer and myself and a supporter simply headed off to do the job ourselves.

This is where I had the privilege of meeting many great people in animal rescue all be them in QLD, and of course the many carers here that helped me along the way, so this probably concreted my resolve to continue having a special interest in animal care.

In March this year, I was on a self funded trip in Canberra exposing issues within our electoral system, a very special interest of mine. My wife phoned to tell me what had happened at Moorook, I then phoned Lola who we had worked with over the years and where a couple of our furbabies had come from, and she said she needed my help, so I flew back immediately to lend her a hand.

I contacted a few people from Canberra to see what the story was and also had a chat with Today Tonight to see if they could back Lola up, as from what I had been led to believe the RSPCA intervention did not appear to be based around the best interests of the animals involved, up until then I had not visited Moorook personally.

The first visit was an eye opener, the RSPCA arrived and appeared to know little about the act that empowered them, yet I had only studied it on the plane back and when i arrived home, they were earmarking animals but without a vet present, and their understanding of medical issues appeared lack lustre to say the least, this I will explain.

The only dog they showed interest in was a new arrival, it had come with a massive flea infestation, and had been taken to Lolas vets (midway road) and had been treated, the issue was so bad it had to have a section of fur shaved, and it was receiving topical treatment, in the first RSPCA raid a week earlier it had been earmarked to be taken, but I assume they had full vans, so Lola was asked to have it vet checked, even thought she made the officers aware this had already been done.

Lola indeed did take the dog back to the vet, and the vet’s response was why it was back, well this is the very dog on the second inspection that was being questioned, and we all as animal lovers know fur does not grow back over night.

In regards to the shelter itself, it indeed was a mess wound the edges, and the property was also used to recycle scrap metal in the non shelter areas, so indeed Lola needed a hand, that said the enclosures were clean, the dogs happy and healthy and the documents I was given in relation to veterinary checks, desexing, micro chipping and vaccinating showed it was better run that I would have ever expected.

The shelter consisted of an old approved area of 9 concreted enclosures with an attached exercise yards no longer used and run down, A 4 run section for older dogs that was concreted and offered large areas to move again with a huge exercise area, a modern set of 19 concreted enclosures with attached exercise yards, 10 large back yard type settings that had Kennels but no concrete areas (used for animals in long term care) 8 larger enclosures with large kennels (now concreted) another modern run of 9 enclosures also up to modern standards, and a still used quarantine area with 8 enclosures, which met with the latest requirements, but could do with a makeover, on top of this are a few areas, Lola keeps her own dogs.

On the first inspection Lola had 120 dogs on the property and had several experienced volunteers, I was impressed to be honest with the set up in general, but changes needed to be made in both management and in upkeep of the surrounding areas to the shelter.

The 3 orders given by the RSPCA were minor in nature, so 1 weekend conquered them, some loose fencing and the concreting of 6 areas, and we met the RSPCA written orders, from there many good people stepped up and we renovated the entire surroundings, including years of junk that in the most was there when Lola brought the property.

The hardest work was by way of orders from the local council, that went from my point of view beyond commonsense and in fact any local bi-laws, but we complied, this included uncovering drainage pits, that all complied, cleaning the area and even inspections of tool and garden sheds, even an unused shed at the rear of Lola’s home.

Moorooks own records show they have homed in recent years over 2000 animals, which is massive and deserves respect, indeed things do get out of hand in terms of a property of this size when the owner puts the animals first, as for the charges made by the RSPCA, a detailed article is on my site www.markmaldridge.com , so I believe stepping in and helping was the right thing to do, other than my body telling me I am not fit enough for such manual labour 

I used everything at my disposal to help ensure Lola could keep doing what she loved for as long as she is able, media, social networking, and my supporters, I may not have done everything in a way that everyone would agree is right, but I did do the best I could for the right reasons and will continue until the shelter is safe.

All the way along I thought it pertinent to do so in a transparent manner, which is why I posted articles on what had transpired, as I was there for the shelter and I believe Moorook is a grass roots shelter, one that works only through the support and hard work of many.

The shelter is now down to around 50 dogs, and homing rates remain steady at around 7 dogs a week, as a measure to make life easier, I suggested Moorook only take in Riverland dogs from now on, so I believe now the number will remain steady, a new toilet block is going in, a new quarantine area is under construction (air-conditioned) and the old quarantine area will be renovated and used to show case adoptions, so although the shelter can handle up to 140 dogs, development planning will be for a maximum of 60 from here on in.

The cattery is also being overhauled and is looking good, every cat is de-sexed, immunised and treated by a local vet, and just for your information, Lola covers over $4,000 a month in vet bills.

As for the legal’s, I have found a very good legal team to cover the court case pro bono, and we are also having Moorook registered as a charity, until now it was a registered business and has since 1999 been an approved shelter operation.

I note there are a few people on here that back what has happened, and others that differ in opinion, so I post this to show my side of the story, thank you for listening.

Mark

How exactly do you explain your behavior in all this? It is one thing to cite transparency and it is entirely another for you to deliberately goad, provoke and harass the people tasked with looking into the allegations (the RSPCA).

I have absolutely no vested interest in either side of the "For or Against Moorook" debate, and am viewing this all as an unbiased outsider and I have to say that I have found the way you handled this whole situation appalling. It is my opinion that YOU and your behavior towards the RSPCA are the majority of the reason that Lola was charged with the offenses that she was. Instead of working with them and acknowledging that things needed to be cleaned up and changed and that you would be willing to put the time and effort in to assisting Lola, you made it into a huge oppositional farce and created and "Us vs. Them" mentality....it served no purpose, other than to make things worse, and was certainly NOT in the best interests of the animals for you to behave as you have.

You have used this situation to your advantage and as a platform to get media attention, renown and in essence have tried to turn it into the "Mark show". This was evidenced by your behavior to being left out of the loop when the solicitors cancelled the Support day. You acted like a tantrum throwing toddler and your insistence to remain "in control" and still call all the shots about moving it etc without first speaking to Lola or the Legal Team really showed you in a negative light. It highlighted that you were not a team player, that you had no interest in working for the good of Lola and the Shelter unless it also simultaneously benefited you.

I agree that the information needs to be out there. I actually came by this thread after reading the Moorook spiel on FB (that someone had shared) and wanted to see what other information there was about this seemingly compelling story of injustice. Reading here gave me insight, and showed a whole other side to it that prevented me from blindly supporting a lie. For that I thank you all.

BUT

I question the necessity to engage in pointless arguments with the crazies like that Paul character. It gets no one anywhere. It reminds me of the phrase "Don't argue with an idiot, they will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience".

I just think that a lot of the drama is unnecessary. Share the information without the drama and arguing and try not to get too drawn into their bizarre behavior.

Snook- Thank you for taking my comments in the way they were intended. :)

I am actually getting worried for you ladies to be honest. I have been quietly following this whole debacle since it first came to light, both here and on FB, and I have to say that I think you all need to take a huge step back and get some perspective.

Both here and on FB you have invested a HUGE amount of time, effort and emotion in what is essentially a shit fight to nowhere. What is it going to achieve? What are you actually hoping to gain? This whole situation, as well as your online back and forth slinging fight with the most vocal of the Moorook supporters, has sucked you all in so much that you seem to be completely drawn in and somewhat obsessed with being right about it all.

Now at the heart of it, I do tend to agree with your "side", but seeing the amount of posts and rubbish, both here and on FB, I cannot help but wonder how much time you are investing in this campaign against Mark and Moorook.You have all said your piece. You have all made a LOT of sense but now you seem to be so sucked into the arguments and drama of it all that you are being dragged down to their level.

I am genuinely not trying to be disrespectful to any of you, but having just read some of the arguments on the "Moorook Animal Shelter- the facts, the hype and the truth" FB page and I was pretty shocked at how BOTH sides of the argument were coming across. You don't need to play this one up game. Let the facts and your information stand for itself without the antics because it is making you all come across as overzealous, and nearly as damn nutty as the other side.

Please try and take a step back and look at if this is actually worth it. Sometimes walking away from arguments is the more mature way to go and it would save you all considerable time and stress to simply put your information out there and realise that people will either believe it or not, at their own discretion, and that the incessant arguing, bickering and general nastiness is not going to accomplish anything. Let the facts and the court case prove this for you.

Best Wishes.

FFS- someone needs to remind the egotistical twat that Lola's future depends on this, it is not his political platform!

He keeps saying it is all about the animals but he is throwing a tantrum like an attention seeking little toddler, all but screaming "It's all about me!"

Lola needs to act fast and distance herself from this wanker before his antics land her in freaking jail (possible exaggeration but you get the point.) He has already done enough damage to their so called "cause" with his bullshit, immature behavior.

It is all just a massive ego stroke for that guy!

I couldn't believe that he was actually arguing with them on the thread (passive aggressively at least) instead of just accepting it gracefully and speaking to the relevant people tomorrow.

Honestly the recent suggestions in regards to regulations etc on owning large breed dogs is simplistic, idealistic and would be nearly impossible to roll out given the very large number of dogs owned in Australia. The cost alone would be astronomical given the number of classes that would be needed ALL over the country... Finding, or training, the necessary number of experienced people to run such classes in rural, outback, suburban areas etc. Paying their wages, hiring facilities, running enough classes for the numbers of dogs and owners that would need it...

Added to that, are we really saying that a 24kg dog would do less damage than one with an extra kilo? Or even a 20kg dog not being as high of a risk as a 25kg dog? Many people blame Staffords, Staffy X's and Am Staffs but a decent number of those dogs would be under the 25kg mark... One of the worst attacks I have seen was inflicted by a a neighbours small working bred Kelpie, she couldn't have been more that 15-18kgs and the damage done was horrible.

Breed aside- it was a terrible incident and I hope all who were injured recover swiftly.

I would also like for it to become procedure that any dog/s involved in a serious dog attack incident under go a thorough study by an experienced dog behaviorist , including studying the home environment and interviewing the owners, neighbours etc.

Knowledge and insight is going to go further to preventing these things from occurring than blind panic and hysterical reaction.

I have to say that I admire the compassionate way in which the dog catcher/Ranger was handling the dogs especially given the circumstances.

Those poor men, how terrifying for them.

Why do people find it so hard to contain their dogs?? No doubt there'll be a call for tougher laws now, when all we really need is our current ones enforced better :/

Why do people find it so hard to drive on the road without having accidents?

While I agree the dogs should not have been on the street, the issue I have with joggers is their arrogance in putting themselves in greater danger by continuing to run past a dog despite it being common knowledge that running stimulates a dog's prey instinct.

Sure people have a right to jog along a public road, just as they have a right to swim at a public beach or drive along a public road. But is it wise to continue to swim if a shark is sighted, or drive through a flooded causeway?

How hard is it for a runner to stop and walk past a loose dog?

You either have first hand knowledge of what happened in this incident or you are making some pretty huge assumptions and victim blaming.

Unless you know something that is not mentioned in the news, you have no idea how this occurred. The jogger may not have even seen the dogs, or rounded a corner and startled them (and himself). They could have been down an alleyway that he ran past, or in someone's front yard unnoticed by him.

Calling a dog attack victim arrogant for going about his business is pretty extreme and very bad form.

What is with all the links to previous dog attacks???

http://www.police.ns...0bWwmYWxsPTE%3D

So shoot me, they were attached to the article as related links. Complain to MSN.

I didn't understand the intent or realise that it was attached from a news page which is why I asked. It seemed strange that there was no link to the actual article and several to different incidents, hence I attached the only link I could find.

No need to be so defensive.

Three dogs that viciously attacked a jogger in Sydney's southwest should be killed

• Vic man shocked by dog attack
• Vic cops looking for 'gutless' dog shooter
• Dog fighting rings target Sydney suburb
• Man mauled by dogs as onlookers' filmed
• Man bites dog to save wife from vicious attack

The dogs attacked the man, 49, while he was jogging at Ashcroft about 2pm Sunday.

The victim was left with deep lacerations after he was bitten on the arm, under the arm and on the chest.

He's currently in Liverpool Hospital getting treatment.

Another man, 54, who assisted the 49-year-old was also taken to hospital with a hand wound.

The dogs were collected by council rangers.

Police said in a statement that they would be "making an application for the dogs to be destroyed".

An eye-witness to the attack told the Seven Network that the dogs were pitbulls.

Police are yet to identify the breeds of the dogs involve

What is with all the links to previous dog attacks???

http://www.police.nsw.gov.au/news/latest_releases?sq_content_src=%2BdXJsPWh0dHBzJTNBJTJGJTJGd3d3LmViaXoucG9saWNlLm5zdy5nb3YuYXUlMkZtZWRpYSUyRjMwNDg2Lmh0bWwmYWxsPTE%3D

How scary for you all! As a mother I cannot help but feel for the poor little child who got dragged, it would have been a very traumatic event and shame on the parents for putting their child in that position.

Thank golly that Toby bore no injuries from it, hopefully the mental effect will be just as minimal as well.

Thanks everyone, I was just so surprised and proud of how Lolly listened and no one IRL really understands what a big deal it is for a high prey drive dog like her to recall off a cat so I had to share it here. She got spoiled with Ziwipeak treats after it was all done.

Yes the name was very sweet, she was owned by a 3yr old little girl who was very happy to have her home. The irony in the fact that "Lolly" nearly ate "Milkshake" is not entirely lost on me though LOL :laugh:

Oh wow :) well done!! :D

Thanks Disintegratus. I was a very proud dog mumma for sure!

Oh and the little cat thankfully had no injuries at all. I am not a cat fan but I am an animal lover so I popped her into a cat carrier that I loaned from my neighbour and door knocked the area. She was very soft, smelled of frontline and was a very affectionate and calm little girl considering what she had gone through so I knew she had to have come from somewhere close. Two houses down on the street behind mine and she was returned to her owners who had only just moved in the day before and accidentally let her out. "Milkshake" was a very lucky little girl!

That she does not actually want to kill cats! Good to know!

She has never been socialised with them and always had a really high prey drive in keeping our yard clear of straying cats. Today I just happened to walk outside 2 seconds before she noticed, and subsequently bailed up and jumped on, a young kitten that had wondered into our yard and who wasn't smart enough to run when it saw her coming.

Much to my shock she actually called off the cat and although you could see that she kept wanting to reengage with it, she listened and kept her (very alert and watchful) distance whilst I scooped the poor little kitten up and took it inside.

I always assumed that if she managed to catch a cat she would hurt or kill it but it must just be the thrill of the chase. I cannot express how relieved I was (and shocked!) when she recalled off the cat!

Rant away. That type of bullying is uncalled for.

IMO a formal letter (or email) to the club may be your best course of action and is likely to get the most action from the club in terms of getting members to pull their head in. They can then take it up with their members by at least sending out a 'reminder' to them about the rules. And can confirm it with council if they so desire. IT may also be more 'educational' than simply confronting any belligerents with the rules (as they will not be averse to accepting that when they may take it from their club if done more formally)

The letter need only say the time and date, what the situation was and the reaction of members of the club to you (i.e. bullying). Then go on to state that after re-confirming with the council that you were within your rights and the law to use the grounds as you were, and that noting you had taken the fact that it was a shared facility into consideration by staying on the far side of the oval so not to impact on the clubs activities, you would like the club to show the same consideration to you and other users. Attach a copy of the regs to the letter for their info.

I agree with this as being the best way to approach it. ^^