Dog’s attack on ducks reported

By Kath Gannaway
SEEING a ‘pet’ dog attacking a family of ducks on the Yarra River at Warburton was the last straw for Neil Parkinson.
Mr Parkinson from Yarra Junction reported the owner of what he described as a border-collie mongrel to the Shire of Yarra Ranges ranger after the dog jumped into the water and started terrorising the ducklings.
“The duck has just had babies, no bigger than a cigarette packet, and the mother and father were in a panic trying to chase the dog off as the little ones were trying to get away from it,” Mr Parkinson said.
He said while the ducks weren’t injured, it was chaos and very upsetting with the owner not able to control the dog or get it out of the water.
“This woman just pulled up and let the mongrel out of the car,” he said. “She was calling it but she had no control over it at all.”
He said the incident was just one more example of irresponsible dog owners making life hell for other people enjoying the river and for wildlife.
Mr Parkinson regularly fishes on the river and said while there are some good dog owners who keep their dogs on a lead, others just let them run wild and seem to delight in spoiling his fishing.
“People will see the lines in the water and just throw a stick right in where you have your lines or they will let their kids swim where you have lines and hooks in.
“They just don’t care.”
While allowing dogs to walk unleashed along the Yarra River tracks in Warburton is illegal, shire spokesman David Ashton confirmed to the Mail that it is not an off-lead area and that thoughtlessness is a bit harder to regulate.