THE case involving Two Sox and Floyd, two dogs acquitted earlier this month of killing 39 sheep in the Lakes in 2016, has brought out some ugly behaviour in our community.
Our Shire of Mundaring rangers are being abused on the streets. Staff working on the front desk are copping repugnant phone calls from anonymous sources. Another employee taking a ranger vehicle to be serviced was subjected to a bloke banging on the window aggressively ranting about “bloody rangers”.
Some of the commentary on social media has been equally frightening. Some members of the community seem to feel safe behind their keyboards to launch vile and slanderous comments against the Shire, the rangers, dog owners and even journalists.
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READ NOWWhy has it come to this?
As Shire President John Daw said there are no winners in this case. This long-running and expensive saga has been traumatic to all those involved.
The owner of the dead sheep, the rangers, the Hey family and Two Sox and Floyd who were impounded for 15 months, have all been heavily impacted and I’m sure they’ve all had many a sleepless night.
What good can come of this abuse?
Rightly or wrongly the Shire pursued the case and the court has made a ruling.
What can result from this case is improvements in investigating future dog attacks in the Hills.
The Shire has taken onboard criticism by the magistrate who raised serious concerns about the investigation by the rangers in the case. Staff are undertaking a full review of its practices and procedures in relation to dog attacks, particularly with regards to evidence collection.
With improvements in this area, let’s hope that our Shire, rangers, livestock owners and dog owners never have to go through such an ordeal again.
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