Reprieve for killer dog

Press, 23 April 1979, Page 6

Reprieve for killer dog

NZPA Melbourne; A dog which killed a baby) girl, aged 13 weeks, in Mel-I bourne on Saturday, has' been given a stay of execution. Authorities at the North Melbourne Lost Dogs’ Home, where the dog was taken, have refused to destroy the dog until they get written authority from the police. The dead child’s parents, Mr and Mrs James Jewell, have asked the police to have the dog destroyed, but the police need the request in writing and will not dis-

turb the couple “for at least 24 hours.” The police said that the baby, Olivia Louise, the Jewell’s only child, was in a front room of their home in Carlton, an inner Melbourne suburb. Mr and Mrs Jewell were asleep in a bedroom at the back of the house.

They did not hear or know anything about the attack until Mr Jewell went to check the baby. He found her body in her pram and one of their two dogs, a white-

haired fox terrier, was later found covered in blood.

The police and the lost dogs’ home have been besieged with calls protesting against the proposed destroying of the dog. The president of the Blue Cross Animals Society of Victoria, Mr Peter Parkinson, urged people to use “common sense” with their pets. “People who have pets and then start a family must be aware that they cannot turn round and just cut off the love that they gave to the animals,” he said.