Thread: Dogs kill 4 year old girl

I heard that on the news this morning, happened in Warren.

From the way the made it sound here the girl had entered the yard where the dogs were. They didnt say that the dogs jumped the fence. Matt

Qld reporting is the dogs jumped the fence and pack mauled the girl. Hard to work out the truth with the high standrad of reporting we have come to expect.

glen

Still upsetting that a child dies from dog attack.

According to the SMH (via Police) the girl was in the dogs' yard, but that is a piece of news that is immaterial to how the family is feeling and won't help them in any way.
B----dy heart-breaking is the only way to describe it.
I agree in terms of dog owner responsibility.
Juz

Verbatim on local ABC this morning from the officer in charge of Warren police - The girl was found in a yard near her home by a relative at about 7.30pm. The time of the attack is unknown and there were no witnesses, or at least they had not found any at 7.15 this morning. The girl was treated at Warren hospital but died in the ambulance on the way to the airport at about 0300.
The dogs are described as "crossbreed hunting dogs", presumably for pig hunting.

We seem to be hearing more of this sort of thing as Discoute implies. I don't know whether it is "better" reporting, or whether they are increasing. If so it could be that more people have savage dogs (depends on training mainly rather than breed), largely, although not apparently in this case, because they feel in need of protection from a non-existent increase in crime; or because there are more children playing alone because of smaller families (dog attacks less likely on a group of children); children brought up so wrapped in cotton wool that they are sure nothing can hurt them; children less likely to be educated in the dangers of strange dogs; children less supervised - adults all working or watching TV; or all of the above.
Very disturbing when it happens though - I have a grand daughter that age.
John

Further to my last post - found some more information on the Warren dog attack. The dogs were regarded as child-friendly, and the girl was known to them, and friendly with the dogs - house of a close family friend. But nobody was at home, and the dogs apparently regarded any intruder as a threat. The father of the dog-owner is quoted as telling any owners of pig dogs not to trust them.
John

it does'nt really matter if a dog is breed to kill or trained to kill the owner has a duty of care to make sure that the dog can't get out and that small children can't get in to the yard were the dog is kept.

the poor family has to live with the loss of a child for the rest of their lives. and the dog owner will come up with all these excuses as to why its not there fault.

the dogs will be put down and a couple of months down the track the owner will get a couple of more dogs to replace them. in this day and age there is no place in our society for vicious dogs and until something is done to hold the owners of these dogs responsible, these attacks will continue to happen.

I have a cocker spanial, and she is a real friendly people person dog but she has snapped the kids when she got annoyed and had a go at the next door neighbour whn he was at my front door and put his hand inside - all dogs are likely to attack in some circumstances. Even though my dog is cute and cuddly - I will not let any strange kids near her.

The police have determined that the fencing arrangements for the dogs were appropriate and the dogs did not escape - the little girl managed to squeese past some vertical railings and enter their domain. In this case I do not blame the dogs or the owner but it is questionable whether hunting dogs should be kept in a suburban environment - even if it is in a place like Warren - why wasn't the 4yo being supervised - that is just as an inportant issue - no one heard the attack and the girl was found later - the dogs and the girl would have heaps of noise - the question is "where were the parents?"

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I feel for the family involved loosing a child cant be easy. However if the dogs were unable to escape from the yard they were in and the child was found in the yard the dogs live in how is it the dog owners fault? I dont believe in keeping pig dogs in suburban yards, in fact i dont really believe dogs should be used to hunt pigs at all and i am an avid shooter. But the fact remains the onwer had the dogs secured and the child shouldnt have ventured into the yard.

I appologise if i am being in anyway insensitive here but as a dog owner i would be ****ed off if a kid entered my yard without my knowing or my permission and one of my dogs attacked them and then the parents of the child push to have my dog put down because naturally dogs will protect their own property.

This is of course if the child entered the yard, if the dogs in fact entered her yard and attacked then by all means shoot the owner, its no fault of the dog that the fence wasnt enough to keep them in. Matt