Curra residents call for action over string of dog attacks

WARNING GRAPHIC: A group of Curra residents are demanding council action be taken after a series of vicious dog attacks across the township, including the savage mauling to death of two goats.

Two goats are among dozens of animals killed in dog attacks at Curra over the past few months in a string of incidents which have left families devastated.

Curra families say they have been left devastated and anxious by a series of vicious dog attacks which have maimed and killed numerous pets and animals, including two goats savagely mauled to death.

The dogs which the residents believe to be to domestic, not wild, have aggressively attacked several animals, including goats, chickens, geese and a calf over the past three months.

Residents of the township (who all requested anonymity) said the attacks left families devastated.

One resident said in October they received a 5am phone call from a neighbour about a commotion going on outside the resident’s home.

Once outside they were confronted by the horrific scene of their goat “Milo” being mauled to death.

“Milo” had been pulled down by the ear, its throat was torn to shreds and her abdomen had been ripped open, they said.

A second goat “Otis” had its throat torn open.

Calf “Sunny” suffered multiple injuries after the attack.

They said “Milo” had been trying to protect its newborn kids; one was mauled to death by the animals, too.

“One baby managed to survive luckily,” they said.

“She had a big wound around her abdomen that still hasn’t healed, it’s a big cyst now.”

A second resident said her neighbour’s entire chicken pen was mauled by the same dogs.

“The whole lot is all gone,” she said.

Another family had their calf “Sunny” almost mauled to death after the same dogs chased it into a dam.

The dogs had jumped the fence into the calf’s paddock and chased it, a neighbour said.

One dog ripped off part of the calf’s horn and bit into its arm and neck, leaving it with multiple puncture wounds.

“(My neighbour) said when he saw it, the dog was hanging off Sunny’s neck,” he said.

Another resident who had chickens killed by the animals called on Gympie Regional Council to “take action”.

“It’s a calf now, it could so easily be a small child next time,” she said.

Curra residents say the attacks on their animals have been occurring for months.

“Is that going to be next, is something actually going to get done then?” she said.

The council has been contacted for comment.

A resident who witnessed the chicken attack said she contacted a local ranger, but was told they wouldn’t come to the property unless the dogs were tied up.

The residents are demanding the owner of the dogs be issued with sanctions, hand the dogs in or have the dogs muzzled or locked in an enclosure.

“It’s not just one, it’s a pack mentality now,” she said.

“There’s several dogs and they’ve killed so many animals since October and it’s beyond a joke,” she said.

An account claiming to belong to the dogs’ owner responded to a post on social media about the attacks saying they had since destroyed one of the animals and tried to make amends.

“I have put down the white dog and I took the goats home and buried them and the dog myself,” the post said.

“I have done everything I can to prove how sorry I am.”

The Gympie Times approached the owner of the account for further comment, but they declined.