Owners of accused killer dog hire lawyer in bid to save staffy
The owners of a miniature staffy accused of killing a dachshund in a Pakenham park have hired a lawyer “to make sure that we don’t lose our dog” as the fallout from the tragic incident continues.
South East
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A lawyer has been hired to defend the miniature staffy accused of killing a dachshund in a Pakenham Park.
Paki Harrison said his family had hired the lawyer to “come in and take over” as the fallout continues over the group dog fight at a park near Windermere Blvd at 11am on Tuesday. “(The lawyer) has been hired to make sure that we don’t lose our dog,” Mr Harrison said.
“All correspondence will now go through him.”
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Meanwhile, a change.org petition started by Emma McLean, which calls on Hero to be saved from being put down, has — as of 8.20pm Thursday — gathered more than 90,000 signatures.
“My aim here is to urge the Cardinia Council to not put this poor dog to sleep,” Ms McLean said.
The Leader has spoken to Cardinia Council this afternoon, with a spokeswoman confirming the council were still investigating the incident.
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Mr Harrison on Wednesday defended his wife, Claudia, who was walking the staffy, Hero, when the fight erupted. He read out a statement from Claudia detailing her side of the story.
“My son and I were taking our dog for a walk up the hill near the lake; three dogs approached us from behind — two smaller dogs and one larger dog,” he read.
“The larger dog started to bark excessively and I tried to get my son behind me to keep him safe.
“I pulled my dog away at the same time. My dog was on his lead with a harness.
“I looked around but there was no owner in sight, and I was worried for my son.
He said his wife put their son on a nearby barbecue while the dogs attacked their staffy, who is named Hero.
“I yelled and tried to signal for nearby help but there wasn’t anyone,” Mr Harrison read.
“At this stage I couldn’t keep the dogs away from my dogs or keep my son safe.
“I then manage to wave down a car that was passing by and they came running out.”
Mr Harrison said the people in the car “happened to be the owner of the three dogs that were let out”.
“I told them to get a bucket of water to separate (the dogs, but) it was too late by the time they came on to the scene,” he read.
“I then hear the husband come out after the event and say he opened the garage and let the dogs out.
“At no stage did he come out and collect his dogs, and they were left unattended.”
Mr Harrison said they reported the incident to Cardinia Council and sent their details to the dachshund’s owner but they did not reply.
He spoke out after Pakenham woman Kashila Chintamunnee told Leader her four-year-old dachshund Coco was attacked by a dog at a park on Windemere Blvd.
“My father opened our gate and Coco ran outside and had a sniff of the other dog … and he started mauling my dog,” Ms Chintamunnee said.
She said she had to pull the dog off Coco, but it was too late.
“The dog had bitten too deep into Coco’s main vessel as he had lost that much blood – I was drenched in his blood that’s how much there was,” she said.
Ms Chintamunnee said she rushed to two nearby Pakenham vets after the attack, but they were both closed.
She drove to a vet in Londsdale St, Dandenong but Coco died just a few minutes before she arrived.
Ms Chintamunnee said she feared more attacks may occur.
“This dog shouldn’t be on the streets,” she said.
Mr Harrison earlier said he had felt remorse for the owner and had tried to reach out to her on social media.
“We’ve tried to reach out to them on Facebook and I’ll be going to the police station and council (on Wednesday),” he said.
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Both parties said they had reported the incident to police.
A Victoria Police spokeswoman said councils investigated “dog vs dog attacks”.
A Cardinia Council spokeswoman said the incident was being investigated.
She encouraged anyone with information about the incident to contact the council.