Pfotenhilfe reminds us of the extremely dangerous reason for fatal dog attacks / Public prosecutor refuses to investigate animal cruelty
Lochen/Naarn/Linz (OTS) – The trial at the Linz regional court will take place on March 7th. Dog breeder Kerstin N., whose dogs killed a jogger on October 2, 2023, is charged with grossly negligent homicide because she did not have her dogs under control. The Pfotenhilfe association showed the reason for their extremely aggressive behavior two days later using screenshots in which you can clearly see how at least the dog Elmo was specifically trained to bite people in an official dog school in the Mostviertel! The public prosecutor’s office then announced that the investigation would be expanded from negligent to grossly negligent homicide.
Since at least one of the dogs had to die immediately due to this intentional and extremely dangerous training, which is considered animal cruelty under the Animal Protection Act, and the other two are also threatened with this fate, the Pfotenhilfe association has also filed a statement of facts against Kerstin N., her partner and the dog trainer for animal cruelty and grossly negligent homicide. But this procedure – illegal in Pfotenhilfe’s opinion – was stopped immediately without any investigation, which means that the crime of animal cruelty is once again not taken seriously. The hearing is only scheduled for an hour. Experience has shown that there are at most two witnesses, although after the incident several people from the local community spoke out publicly with their own perceptions.
The infamous biting and attack training, which increases aggressiveness and willingness to fight, is prohibited as animal cruelty under the Federal Animal Protection Act. With the amendment currently under review, this is intended to be written even more clearly into the dog training regulations, with exceptions that should be kept within very narrow limits.
“If we want to prevent such terrible dog attacks in the future, such training must not be tolerated,” says Pfotenhilfe spokesman Jürgen Stadler. “It can’t be the case that dogs in this country are trained to attack people and then half-heartedly teach them to only do so on command. Apart from the fact that such animal abuse as a weapon is generally extremely questionable, the susceptibility to errors is too high and This makes them far too dangerous in everyday life. This is precisely why such dogs often see nothing other than tiny kennels, transport boxes and the training area, where they can vent their pent-up frustration on people in protective clothing. What can happen when such conditioned dogs react to a trigger stimulus in everyday situations “, the Naarn case has shown in a frightening way. Nobody can seriously want to risk that,” points out Stadler.
Screenshots of dog Elmo from Naarn during bite training in an official dog school in the Mostviertel will be sent upon request.
Questions & Contact:
PFOTENHILFE association
Jürgen Stadler
+43|664|848 55 50
juergen.stadler@pfotenhilfe.at
www.pfotenhilfe.at