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While most people were asleep in a warm bed at 4am on a frosty Saturday morning, Burnie farmer Ken Wells was woken up by his dog to find all of his chickens had been killed. Ken Wells, of Swanston Street Burnie, heard his dog barking at 4am so he went to check out what was happening with his son on his semi rural property. What they found were two dogs who had helped themselves to their 16 chooks overnight. “Our blue heeler dog was up at the house and he was barking mad,” Mr Wells said. He said he saw two husky dogs and he managed to catch one, but it escaped. “The fence is five foot high so I locked him in and I thought, when it comes daylight I would get a dog catcher, but he had jumped the fence,” Mr Wells said. He said he initially reached out to council and they said they couldn’t help without the dog, but his daughter called someone else in the council who said they would investigate the issue on Monday. Burnie City Council says on its website that if a dog harasses an animal it is classed as an attack. “Council may issue Infringement Notices for some dog attack offences however, major incidents may be prosecuted through the Court system, resulting in maximum fines of up to $2,600 per offence. “In addition, the Court may order the owner of the dog to pay compensation for damage/costs and also order that the dog be destroyed.” Mr Wells said one of his neighbors also had trouble with the same dogs, but he managed to save his chooks. “I’ve been here 25 years and I’ve had it happen four times. It is not too bad but it is still awful.” “Apparently they are running around. I will be telling them (Burnie City Council) tomorrow to be checking them out,” Mr Wells said. He said the dogs also got a goose, which now had a broken wing. He said he used to give the eggs from his flock to some pensioners on his street, charging them just enough to pay for the chook’s feed. Three years ago Mr Wells faced a similar incident, when a rogue dog attacked three of his lambs.

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