Family dog shot dead by police in Perth after attacking owners
A Perth father pleaded with police to “just shoot” his rescue dog after it suddenly turned on his family.
Stephen Quail was at home in Baldivis in the city’s south with his wife Michelle and their 18-year-old daughter on Sunday night, when Ace the blue heeler randomly attacked them.
“[The dog] opened me up under my chin,” Mr Quail told Channel Seven’s Sunrise, describing the terrifying moment Ace lunged at his throat.
Mrs Quail said it took “all my might” to pull Ace off her husband before the dog turned and latched on to her calf.
While the couple’s daughter, who’d also been bitten on the arm during the attack, hid in a nearby room, police were called.
“I had to come out and rip his jaw off her [Michelle],” Mr Quail said.
“[I] threw the dog in front of the police officer and said ‘just shoot him, shoot him, shoot him'.”
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A tearful Mr Quail, who has been left with injuries to his chin and arms, added that it had taken officers three shots to kill the dog.
“We don’t like harming animals,” Senior Sergeant Ian Francis told the media on Monday.
“But given the circumstances, that level of force was required to reduce the threat to the family and to the officer himself who was trying to deal with that horrific scene with the injuries to the family members.
“A family offers up their home to a canine and provide this dog a home and for whatever reason, the dog attacking the family is a terrible set of circumstances for everybody.”
Mr Quail said they knew Ace had had a “traumatic past” with previous owners but they had taken care of him in a peaceful household.
He’d only been with the family for a month, and had just returned from surgery to be desexed when the brutal attack took place.
Ace still had a cone around his neck from the surgery, and the family believe that if it wasn't for that cone, Mr Quail would have died in the attack.
“It was horrific,” Mrs Quail said. “Just to see the dog lunge at Steve and my daughter and me.
“It was a bloodbath in there.
“It just came out of nowhere. We don’t know why he did it. We couldn’t do anything, he was out of control.”
The family was taken to Rockingham General Hospital for treatment while Mr Quail will undergo surgery for his injuries.
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