news, latest-news, Shoalhaven City Council, dog attack, policy, Collingwood Beach, Vincentia, Jervis Bay, Greg Watson, John Levett

Shoalhaven City Council will review its dog policies and introduce a zero tolerance for any unregistered dogs and dog attacks. The review and changes follow the horrific dog attack on Collingwood Beach in Vincenia on March 29 where a 91-year-old woman was killed and four other people were injured. Five people were walking on the popular Jervis Bay beach when they were attacked by three cross bull mastiffs. READ MORE: Clr Greg Watson brought forward the motion to the strategy and assets meeting on April 21, asking council to adopt a 'zero tolerance' for any detected unregistered dogs and impose penalties for any dog attack outside of the owner's property, no matter how minor. The motion was amended by Cr John Levett to ask council staff to undertake a comprehensive review of the council's dog policies in consultation with the community, rangers, animal shelter and other interested parties. Cr Annette Alldrick said she did not want council to punish responsible dog owners. "I just want to make it very clear that this [dog attack] was not in a dog off-leash area - it had nothing to do with dogs being illegally off-leash," she said. "This was a criminal act and I don't think responsible dog owners should be punished for the criminal acts of one couple." Cr Mitchell Pakes agreed the majority of ratepayers were responsible dog owners but said the incident was a good opportunity for council to review its policy. "I think we'd be misleading our community if we said we could eliminate [dog attacks] all together," Cr Pakes said. "But what we can do is ensure our policy and procedures are as tight as they can be to try to eliminate this stuff happening in the future." Cr Bob Proudfoot was concerned about the number of dogs in backyards, trained to be killers. "They're often only a colorbond fence away from getting onto the street," he said.

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