Spate of vicious dog
attacks on koalas in past week
Over the past week the Shelter has received calls to 3 badly
injured koalas.
All these koalas have been savagely
attacked by an unknown dog or dogs and sadly have all been euthanised. The
injures were all horrific one with head wound,
one severe leg wound with the inside of her leg completely torn apart and the
latest victim George with a severe wound to his rump area. We also had one
koala found dead within the month, same vicinity with a large head wound and
bite marks around the back of his neck. The area involved is Tenth / Twelfth block and the victims
have been found close to the CFA building.
One resident in the area reported hearing a very brutal attack
five nights ago describing it as a mauling with horrific screaming of what they
thought was a cat being killed. Residents have also reported various owners who are allowing
their dogs to run in the crown land unrestrained and unsupervised. The shire and DEPI have been notified and are investigating.
We are asking all residents and tourists to keep their dogs restrained.
Please do not allow your dogs to chase the koalas or kangaroos and they should
not be allowed to run free on the crown land this puts all animals at risk
including children.
It is very sad that latest victim of attack was a Koala named
‘George Clooney’. He was given this name
by Leona of DEPI at the 2013 Koala Program. He was microchipped and not
sterilised and released as good breeding stock due his excellent health and
appearance. He was a koala that scored a healthy 5 on the condition chart, a
very rare score on Raymond Island where the general score is 3 and all too
often even lower. He was a very big
healthy male who was meant to be part of the long term breeding plan of a healthy
Koala population for the Island. Koalas like George are rare. For George to be attacked so
brutally and not escape sets off alarm bells as to who and what this dog is and
what it is capable of.
If you have any information regarding the identity of this
dog or dogs please call the
Shire on 51539500 or DEPI on 51520600.
