18 October 2024

Council officers have today seized two dogs suspected of being involved in animal aggression and livestock losses in the Wonga Park and Warrandyte South area.

This action was taken this morning, after officers were able to formally speak to an individual who is assisting Council with our ongoing investigations.

We are assessing all available evidence. We encourage any witnesses with new information that could assist with our investigation to contact us directly on 9840 9333 at manningham@manningham.vic.gov.au.
 

16 October 2024

We are actively investigating reports of uncontained dogs, animal aggression and livestock losses in the Wonga Park and Warrandyte South area.

Since we received reports early last week, we have:

• visited 26 local properties that house large dogs, including German Shepherds, to confirm they are appropriately contained and that the owners understand their obligations to contain their dogs
• met with local residents, taken multiple witness statements and photos related to the reports – however, at this stage, we have not collected evidence that directly links the reported incidents to dogs from an individual property
• been in contact with local police
• continued to be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week to attend to emergency reports relating to community safety.

We have not received any reports of further attacks on livestock or wildlife since Monday this week.

If you have information about this

As part of our ongoing investigation, we are collecting all available evidence and encourage any witnesses to contact us directly. Timely and accurate reporting will assist with our investigation.

Our officers are ready and available to follow up any new information and will meet with witnesses to take statements and gather evidence, once reported.

Direct evidence is required before we can take legal steps to seize or remove animals from a property. It’s important to note, social media speculation doesn’t assist our investigation, it can just create concern in our community. If you have witnessed something in relation to this matter, please contact us directly as we cannot act on social media content alone. Where we have sufficient direct evidence, we will take all appropriate and available actions.

Contacting us

If you have witnessed something, we encourage you to let us know as soon as possible.

If you have information or evidence relating to these incidents and that could assist with our investigation, please contact us on 9840 9333 at manningham@manningham.vic.gov.au

We have officers on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week to attend to emergency reports related to community safety.

Calls received outside of office hours, between 5.00pm to 8.30am and on weekends, are directed to our on-call after hours emergency service.