A beloved family dog has been put down after it savaged a man and woman in a western Sydney backyard, sparking furious threats that were caught on camera.
Alex the American Akita – a variation of the Japanese dog originally bred to hunt bears – badly mauled a man’s arm and leg in the attack in Georges Hall last month.
Shocking footage from the aftermath of the attack showed the victim and bystanders exchanging X-rated insults and threats of revenge as the man, 30, was put in an ambulance.
A 58-year-old woman was also bitten on the hand in the attack but escaped with minor injuries.
Council rangers attended the home of the Ahmadi family, who owned the large husky-type dog, and sedated it the following day using a dart gun rifle.
Alex the American Akita – a variation of the Japanese dog originally bred to hunt bears – badly mauled a man’s arm and leg in the attack in Georges Hall in January (stock picture of breed)
Council rangers sedated the American Akita dog the following day and took it to a pound
The sedated dog (pictured) had to be carried out on a stretcher by two men before it was placed in a trailer to be taken to the council pound
Members of the family wept as the huge dog – which weighs up to 60kg – was taken away to a dog pound pending further investigations by police and the council.
But the council has now confirmed it has been put down after the dog was found to be an uncontrollable danger to neighbours.
‘Following an extensive investigation, and in consultation with the dog’s owner, it was decided to euthanise the animal,’ a council spokesman told Daily Mail Australia.
‘It was very clear the dog could not be rehabilitated or re-homed and was a risk to the community.’
Video revealed how police intervened to keep two screaming groups apart as doctors tried to take the male victim to hospital as he yelled: ‘Watch when I get out…watch!’
‘Pull the f*** up!’
The dog attack had sparked a wild argument outside the family home after the man was viciously attacked by the dog (pictured, the man screaming from his gurney)
Shocking footage in the aftermath of the attack showed the victim and bystanders exchanging X-rated insults and threats of revenge as the man, 30, was put in an ambulance
Police had to intervene to keep the two screaming groups apart as doctors tried to take the male victim to hospital
Neighbours said the large, muscular dog, with a thick woolly coat, was rarely seen outside the home, but they often heard its deep, menacing bark.
‘It once escaped out the front door and ran off,’ one neighbour told Daily Mail Australia. ‘I found it quite intimidating when I saw it, but it wasn’t out much.’
The day after the attack on January 18, council rangers armed with a sedative dart gun rifle were led to the home’s backyard where the dog could be heard barking.
Moments later the barking stopped, and the sedated dog was carried out on a stretcher by two men and placed in a trailer to be taken to the council pound.
The victim of the attack has not been named but he is believed to have suffered deep bites to his left hand and left leg in the attack.
Tempers flared between the dog owner’s family and bystanders as medics treated the victim at the bungalow around 7.45pm before taking him to Liverpool Hospital.
‘Stay the f*** away,’ one woman in white yelled as another woman ran at her.
The second woman, wearing black, continued towards the woman in white until a man grabbed her arm and said: ‘Shut your f***ing mouth. Shut up!’
The dog owner’s distraught family (pictured) wept as the animal was sedated and taken away by council rangers from the Georges Hall home in January
Council rangers used a rifle to shoot a sedative dart at the American Akita to overpower it
The unconscious dog was taken away in the trailer on the back of this ute pictured, before it was later euthanised
A pair of police officers then wedged themselves between the two women and separated the groups again.
The woman in black continued to scream: ‘What was he [the dog] doing outside?
‘F***ing know your place.’
As the man was taken away by paramedics, he again screamed at the bystanders and pointed his finger at them.
A woman yelled back: ‘Shut the f*** up. It’s your fault.’
But he again fired back: ‘Watch when I get out, watch. You’re a dumb b**ch.’
The following day, one woman, wearing fluffy slippers, sobbed as she said her farewell to the dog as it lay unconscious in the council trailer before it was driven off.
The family at the centre of the row were supported by their next-door neighbour as the drama unfolded. They declined to comment, adding only: ‘It’s too traumatic.’
A relative later told Daily Mail Australia: ‘There’s no show. It’s a personal matter.’
Other neighbours said they only saw the fleet of police cars and ambulances which raced to the scene and saw nothing of the dog attack.
‘I never even saw the dog,’ said one neighbour. ‘I just heard it barking, every day it barked. It sounded like a very big dog.’
The American Akita was bred to hunt bears and has a reputation as a good family dog but does not get on well with other dogs and is known to be cautious and aloof around strangers
Traumatised relatives and neighbours declined to comment on Friday morning
Another said he saw the blow-up between the dog’s owners and the victim’s relatives but didn’t know the background to the incident and admitted: ‘It got a bit heated.
‘We’re quite private on this street and give each other space. We’re all friendly and say hi to each other but we don’t get involved in each other’s business.’
The council confirmed the male American Akita had been microchipped but not registered with them, but there was no record of previous incidents involving it.
The American Akita has a reputation as a good family dog but does not get on well with other dogs and is known to be cautious and aloof around strangers.
It was bred originally by the Japanese to hunt bears and its powerful jaws are said to be many times stronger than even an American pit bull’s.
The dog thrives in cold conditions, given it has a very thick double coat, and can weigh up to 60kg.
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