Brisbane City Council will seek to euthanise two dogs that mauled a man in Brisbane’s north on Friday night, with police revealing they shot the animals as part of their initial response to the incident.
Their owner, Layla Evans, was arrested on Saturday on unrelated charges after telling Nine News the dogs were protective of her but had never been aggressive, and had escaped from the tent she lived in.
“From there [they] had proceeded to protect the campsite, I guess,” Evans said of her bulldog-crosses, Louise and Ruby, which council also confirmed had not previously been declared dangerous.
A 37-year-old man was hospitalised with life-threatening injuries to both arms after being attacked by the dogs in 7th Brigade Park, along Kittyhawk Drive, in Chermside about 6.15pm on Friday.
The man also suffered injuries to his face and legs.
In a statement on Sunday morning, police said officers were “confronted with an immediate and serious safety risk” and after initial efforts to subdue the animals failed, “were required to discharge their service firearms”.
“As with all police use-of-force incidents, the matter has been recorded and reviewed by senior officers in accordance with Queensland Police Service policy and procedures,” the statement said.
The victim, a local man, was taken to the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital – where his condition stabilised on Saturday – while police, including Polair, searched for the dogs, which had been registered to a previous address.
One was found later that night in the front yard of a home, while the second was found on Saturday morning, reportedly sleeping on the back deck of a home.
Brisbane City Council, which now has possession of the dogs, has confirmed it will issue a destruction order for the animals. An owner can either surrender the dogs for the order or seek to appeal against it.
Evans told Nine News on Saturday she was “shattered” by the incident and had “walked all over town, all over the park” trying to find the dogs.
“They’ll bark if you proceed to come in. [If] they feel like harm’s going to be done to me or my partner, then they will proceed to protect, but, apart from that, they’re really good dogs,” she said.
Evans had left the dogs in her tent while going out to dinner with a friend, before getting a call from her mum, who was with police, telling her about the attack.
“The police told me, finally, that apparently they had got through the roof of the tent and then tore a hole,” Evans said.
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