A woman is standing up for her dogs after they were accused of carrying out two horrific attacks on locals within 24 hours.
The Melbourne dog owner, who wished to remain anonymous, said on Sunday she would have locked up her pets if she had been told about the initial incident.
A 71-year-old woman was left bleeding after she was knocked to the ground and bitten on the face, legs and back in Sunbury on Thursday, according to Victoria Police.
Two men managed to pull the dogs off the elderly woman, but were also injured in the attack.
The dogs were seen unaccompanied the next day, where they caught a new mother walking to school with her baby in a stroller to pick up her eldest child.
Neighbours were alerted to the incident after hearing the mother scream and found her ‘bleeding from her head, ears and nose’.
Both women were taken to hospital, where they underwent surgery for their injuries.
Among those who came to the mother’s aid was the dogs’ owner, who said she felt “humiliated” and “sorry” for what her pets had done.
A Melbourne dog owner (pictured) said she should have been notified that her pets had attacked an elderly woman so she could have locked them up before they attacked a mother the next day.
A number of local residents have said they complained to Hume local council about the dogs (pictured) before abandoning the two women, who required surgery for their injuries.
However, the owner said she should have been notified of the first attack because she had “kept the animals indoors.”
She told 7News that she “laid her body over the woman” in an attempt to stop the attack and that she was glad they weren’t focusing their attention on the baby.
“It’s heartbreaking for me and I’m just praying for her,” she said.
“I’m so happy the baby is doing well… Luckily the dogs didn’t come near the baby.”
She also apologised to the local council and community for the incidents, adding that she loved her dogs, who were ‘my family’.
However, according to neighbors, this was unavoidable, as the dogs kept escaping from their backyard and had been terrorizing them for months.
“They’ve been reported several times,” Mr. Jackson said. “They scare the hell out of you.”
At least five neighbours said they complained to Hume Town Council about the dogs, but nothing was ever done about it.
At one point, a neighbor was told that he had to restrain the dogs himself before the rangers would come and investigate.
The dogs were seen unaccompanied the next day, before attacking a new mother pushing a stroller with her baby to pick up an older child from school
Anna Jackson, another local resident, said the incidents on Thursday and Friday were not the first time the dogs had bitten someone.
“About two or three months ago… the dogs were outside and Christopher tried to push him away, but the dog came at him and bit him on his left leg,” she said.
When Hume Town Council was asked why the dogs had not been removed from the site after the first attack, one councillor said there was a ‘procedure’ that had to be followed.
“You can’t just go onto a property and take a dog. That’s the problem, even if he attacks you. You have to go through a process,” said Councilman Jack Medcraft.
The dogs were taken away and euthanized on Saturday.
“I’m really praying for the woman and I hope she can forgive me,” the dogs’ owner said.
