500+ cases: Toowoomba’s animal cruelty hot spots identified
Toowoomba has made an eye-watering contribution to the state’s total animal cruelty totals. Here are the top 10 suburbs where most cases of abuse and neglect were located.
Toowoomba
Don't miss out on the headlines from Toowoomba. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Toowoomba’s spine-tingling animal cruelty numbers have left RSPCA investigators pleading with locals to exercise common sense and care when considering owning a pet.
Across Queensland, the RSPCA inspectors received 17,146 complaints about animal cruelty and neglect, and ambulance officers were forced to attend nearly 30,000 rescues.
More than 500 of those complaints came from Toowoomba.
RSPCA Qld spokesman Michael Beatty said despite the shocking stats, the numbers were looking positive compared to years gone by.
“It’s still been incredibly busy but number of jobs has decreased slightly from last year which I guess is a glimmer of hope,” he said.
Here are the top 10 suburbs for animal cruelty cases in 2020:
Newtown: 81
City: 56
Harristown: 37
Kearneys Spring: 32
Wilsonton: 32
South Toowoomba: 30
Glenvale: 29
Wilsonton Heights: 28
Rockville: 19
East Toowoomba: 18
Here are the top 10 suburbs for cases of animal cruelty in 2019:
Newtown: 78
Harristown: 54
City: 50
Glenvale: 43
Wilsonton: 40
South Toowoomba: 37
Kearneys Spring: 31
East Toowoomba: 29
Wilsonton Heights: 27
Centenary Heights: 24
Toowoomba has witnessed animal cruelty cases play out in 2020, including the charging of Oakey horse trainer Patrick Sexton for having a modified whip, and the man charged over the deaths of 13 horses on a Charlton property.
Across Queensland, the Inspectorate Task force, which includes two Inspectors and a digital intelligence officer, investigated 26 jobs in relation to prohibited events, such as dog fighting and cock fighting, 58 jobs involving commercial breeders and seven involving rescue groups. There are four current prosecutions relating to the prohibited events and two each in relation to breeders and rescue groups.
City hospital’s bold plan to keep cancer patients in Toowoomba
More Darling Downs patients receiving cancer treatment will be able to stay in Toowoomba for treatment once a city hospital launches a new department.
Meat worker facing possible deportation after stalking woman
He refused to accept a relationship and made repeated attempts to contact the woman before breaking into her home, threatening to kill her, and posting her personal information to Facebook falsely saying she was new a prostitute in town.
‘Extreme brutality’: Truckie sentenced to life for murder
A regional Queensland truck driver who mowed down a man with his car in broad daylight on the Toowoomba range has been sentenced for the murder of beloved Brisbane father Paul Sia.
‘Heard gunshots, then sirens’: Mystery deepens after property lockdown
Neighbours have described what they heard before police swarmed a rural Qld property and eerie recent history has emerged despite limited information coming from authorities. LATEST.
Woman lures man to park with promise of sex before robbing him
Jordyn Maree Skrinjar has been jailed for six years for her role in a wild crime spree that included robbing a man at knifepoint after offering him sex for cash, and holding up a hotel at gunpoint.
‘We are the community’: Oakey army units deployed to Ingham flood
Australian and Singaporean army personnel stationed at the Oakey Army Aviation Base have answered the call to support communities in North Queensland hit hard by recent flooding.