One of two pet rottweilers that savagely turned on its owner will be put to sleep after the animal was officially surrendered to a Perth council on Friday.
Harlem has been securely housed at the City of Cockburn’s Animal Management Facility for more than five weeks over the September mauling of Nikita Piil at her home in Success, in the city’s southern suburbs.
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Piil, 31, sustained major injuries, with authorities euthanizing her other rottweiler Bronx on the day of the attack after he was shot in a desperate effort by police to save the woman’s life.
Having recently been declared a “dangerous” dog, Piil had until Saturday to comply with a number of strict safety measures if she wanted to keep her pet, including keeping him in a child-proof enclosure and keeping him on-leash and muzzled at all times outside that space.
If she failed to do that, the dog would be put down.
Piil made the life-or-death decision on Friday — officially relinquishing ownership of the dog to the City of Cockburn.
“While the city would always prefer to find solutions that do not require animals to be put down, in this case the dog will need to be euthanized in the interest of public safety,” Cockburn’s head of community safety and ranger services Michael Emery said.
“The procedure will be done by a suitably qualified veterinarian at our Animal Management Facility.
“We believe this is ultimately also what is best for the animal. The City has held the dog for five weeks. Confining the dog for considerably longer may cause the animal significant distress.”
Emery said the city was conscious of the “traumatic events” experienced by the owner and wished her a quick recovery.
The decision is expected to have been a gut-wrenching one for previously smitten dog owner Piil, who posted regularly about her pets prior to the attack.
“She loved and adored her dogs, and her friends and family have witnessed how much they loved her too,” her sister Natasha Piil wrote in a GoFundMe set up to assist with the cost of her recovery.
As of Monday afternoon, the animal had not yet been put down.
Police were called to Piil’s Success home just after 4.30pm on Saturday, September 16.
Officers deployed a Taser first to try and quell the threat before firing a gun at Bronx when it became clear Piil’s life was in danger.
She was rushed to Royal Perth Hospital with bite wounds, major blood loss and was at risk of losing her arm.
But her trauma was far from over, with serious complications from canine bacterial infections taking hold.
Neighbours tried to come to Piil’s aid, but the dogs’ size meant they were outmatched and could not get them off her.
“I didn’t have a knife, I didn’t have anything really good to take this dog out,” neighbour Bryn Spencer said.
“I only had a bat.
“All I could really do was just watch this girl get mauled apart.”
Other neighbours grabbed leaf blowers, hoses and bats in a bid to fight off the dogs.
Spencer told police they had to get their guns out to save Piil’s life.
“I said you need to get your gun out and shoot this dog, it’s going to kill her.”
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