Toowoomba council considers ‘penalties, prosecution’ for owner of dogs involved in vicious off-leash park attack

Penalties and prosecution could be in order for a dog owner after the council revealed it had finalised its investigation into the vicious incident. Here’s what we know:

The owner of a dog that mauled a Toowoomba woman at an off-leash park earlier this year could face penalties and even prosecution by the council after his canines were seized.

The Toowoomba Regional Council revealed it was still finalising details around the incident on August 11 that left Vyvyan Glover with severe injuries to her arms.

Ms Glover was knocked to the ground during the assault at Thiess Park in Darling Heights as two dogs mauled her, causing severe bruising and lacerations.

After council revealed this week it had finalised its investigation and seized the dogs in October, acting parks and recreation services manager Kevin Jefferies told councillors at Wednesday’s committee meeting it would hand down penalties for the owner.

Toowoomba woman Vyvyan Glover with Kemba the jack russell.

“That regulated dog was declared dangerous because it’s severely injured a person, and we’re looking at further penalties against that owner, whether that’s prosecution (which) we are considering,” he said.

“We’re still finalising some of the information before we decide that next step.”

Mr Jefferies also revealed the council was receiving up to 50 reports of dog attacks across the region every month, or more than once a day.

The news comes as council voted to endorse new inspection programs looking for unregistered and unmicrochipped dogs, as well as monitoring the compliance of existing “regulated dogs”.

While the programs are a regular part of council operations, dangerous dogs have become a topic of debate across Queensland after an Energex contractor was mauled to death by two canines at Greenbank earlier this week.

Locally, a woman told The Chronicle in October of how her greyhound was seriously attacked by off-leash dogs at Drayton Cemetery.

Residents also revealed in September that roaming dogs had snatched a smaller canine from the basket of an elderly man’s mobility scooter in Harristown.

There were nearly 200 bite attacks investigated by the council in 2021, along with 152 non-bite incidents.

The inspection programs had not been carried out in 2021-22 due to staff shortages, but Mr Jefferies told councillors the department had since recruited and started training new officers.