Central Coast Council reported 281 dog attacks last financial year and 103 attacks are already recorded with the Office of Local Government for this financial year.
Last year’s attacks occurred on public roads or footpaths (165), private property (79), public off-leash areas (21) and public places, including beaches or parks (16).
Of these, dog attack animal victims were mostly other dogs (173) and, top a lesser extent, livestock (18), poultry and pocket pets (14) and cats (9).
Dog attack animal victims resulted in 20 animals dying including five dogs, three cats, three livestock and nine poultry and pocket pets, while 10 animals were hospitalised with 49 others needing medical attention and another 57 with minor injuries.
Council said each dog attack often results in multiple victims.
“Intervention by the dog owner(s) during the attack often results in an injury to the person and the animal(s) involved,” council said.
There were some 166 dog attacks on humans last financial year including adults (141), high school aged students (7), primary school aged students (8) and toddlers (10).
Of these, 43 resulted in minor injuries, while 29 required medical attention and 10 required hospitalisation.
Sadly, dog attacks this financial year have already resulted in one human tragedy.
As Coast Community News reported at the time, a five-week-old baby boy was mauled to death by the family’s pet dog at Kariong in the middle of the night on Sunday July 11, 2021.
The Coast has the highest dog ownership in the State, with statistics from the office of local government showing that the Coast has 144,890 dogs microchipped.
Blacktown is a distant second with only 94,161 dogs microchipped in its local government area.
In 2020-21, the Central Coast Council’s community safety officers responded to 1,215 “aggressive animal incidents” and 1,790 reports of “roaming animals”.
They responded to 1,854 barking dog complaints.
In its annual report for 2020-2021, Council said it would have a responsible Pet ownership policy by February 2022.
In its latest operational plan, that policy is now slated to be developed by June 30, 2022.
The Council has a companion animal working group, formerly a community advisory group but it has not met since June 2021.
Last financial year, 1,478 animals were impounded by Council, including 315 cats and 1,163 dogs – of these, 1,058 dogs and 82 cats were returned to their owners.
The remaining animals were transferred to the Animal Care Facilities for rehoming.
“The euthanasia rate is less than 5per cent,” Council said.
Merilyn Vale