NT: Police destroy 11 dogs following vicious pack dog attack

00-00-0000
NT: Police destroy 11 dogs following vicious pack dog attack

By Karen Michelmore

DARWIN, April 16 AAP - No-one is likely to be immediately charged over a vicious attackin which a woman was mauled by up to 10 dogs, Alice Springs police said today.

Edith Tranter, 52, is still in hospital five days after being savaged by eight to 10dogs as she walked down a street in Alice Springs in the early hours of Saturday morning.

"In the 22 years I've been in the police force, it's the worst dog attack I've everseen," acting Senior Sergeant Craig Ryan said.

Eleven dogs believed responsible for the mauling and a spate of other recent attackswere today seized from a nearby Aboriginal camp and destroyed, Snr Sgt Ryan said.

Police had been hunting for the dogs, doorknocking the local area following the attackon Ms Tranter.

Asked if charges were likely to be laid now the dogs had been found, Snr Sgt Ryan replied:"No, not at the moment".

"The reason for that is the dogs came from a town camp and there is no actual ownershipof the dogs, they are basically communal dogs."

Snr Sgt Ryan said several people had come forward with information about the dogs afterhearing about the savage attack, including one man who said he fought the animals offwith a stick while walking his own dog in the area.

Council officers would now work to try to ensure dog numbers at the camp did not getout of control, he said.

"The council inspectors have a very difficult time of it around the camp because alot of the dogs are extremely savage and they have a lot of difficulty with some membersof the community being very pragmatic about giving up their dogs," he said.

"However, the council is trying to reach a compromise with the organisation that runsthe town camp to make sure that the dogs that are in the camp are healthy and registered."

Ms Tranter yesterday said she thought she would die as she tried to fight the dogsoff with her handbag.

She had almost given up when she was rescued by her brother, who heard her screamingfor help from his nearby house.

She suffered deep lacerations to her arms, legs and hips in the attack, which lastedabout five to 10 minutes.

"After the fourth bite ... I didn't feel any more bites after that ... you just sortof shut down," she told ABC radio.

"I didn't feel any more bites after that but I could feel them sort of snapping at my body."

AAP km/ph/de

KEYWORD: DOGS