#1may17

trekstock | stomp out bullying | sustainable development goals fund

#1May17

#1May17

Witnessed one of the most horrific things yesterday. 🙁 We were outside with the FIL and T's Pop working on fixing the fence for the dogs and could hear this dog up the street barking aggressively and pushing on a screen door. This went on for maybe 5, 10 minutes. Next thing we know there's a high pitched scream, the dog growling and a little boy crying/screaming hysterically for the dog to stop. The dog had grabbed the family kitten and mauled it to death. 😢 T tried yelling at the dog to stop but by the time he got across the road it was too late, the poor kitty was gone. Meanwhile the boys parent/owner of the dog was nowhere to be seen during the entire incident. What would she have done if it had have grabbed her son instead of the kitten? This poor child is now going to grow up traumatized because he's watched his family dog mauled their kitten to death while his mother was inside the house doing nothing. I'm slightly traumatized just from hearing the child and kitten screaming, I can't even imagine how this little boy, who T thinks is around the 6/7 age, is coping. I could still hear it all in my head hours after it happened. 😔 We're both so angry that this has happened, and also slightly scared for our animals. Almost everyone on this street has cats or dogs. The house next door to where the incident occurred has a newborn and a 3 year old. The primary school is on this street so there's always children walking up and down the road. What if it gets out one day and attacks a child? We contacted the RSPCA but in their email response they've said it's a council matter, but when we spoke to the council yesterday they said it was an RSPCA matter, so I don't know where to go with this now. I feel for the dog too unfortunately. The neighbours across the road have told us that it has bad hip problems which haven't been looked at by a vet, and the poor thing is chained up all day with no exercise or stimulation. It doesn't excuse what it did yesterday, or the fact that it's a dangerous dog, but it's unfortunate that this could've been avoided with more responsible pet ownership. The only person I do not feel for in this case is the parent who did nothing while her son was in the yard while the dog mauled a kitten to death in front of him. T is still shaken up by this and his Pop left almost immediately after it happened because it affected him too. I can't believe this happened, and it has deeply saddend and angered my family. If you have gotten through all of this, my apologies for sharing but I needed to vent about it. You'll have noticed that I left out the dog's breed, this is intentional because I don't believe breed is the source of agression. Bad pet ownership and abuse of animals can cause agressive behaviour, and in my opinion that is the underlying cause of this attack.