Owner of fox terriers being charged for not controlling his dogs

● Dogs ‘terrorising neighbourhoods’ reportedly in good condition but are difficult to control

■ Rebecca Iversen The owner of a pack of dogs that has been terrorising neighbourhoods in Msida, Hamrun, Marsa and St Venera is being charged for not keeping the dogs under control, sources in the Animal Welfare Department told this newspaper yesterday.

This move comes after residents in the areas filed several reports with both the Animal Welfare Department and the police since February. Although the owner had been approached about the situation, the dogs have continued to escape and roam around the streets where they are reportedly wreaking havoc.

According to sources speaking to this newspaper, the farmer had erected a six-foot fence around his farm but the dogs still managed to climb over it and escape.

Videos and photographs have captured the dogs jumping on residents’ car bonnets as well as the dead cats the dogs have left behind.

According to sources, the dogs are in good condition and have been micro-chipped. Fox terriers are, however, hunters by nature.

But for residents in the areas who care for the stray cat populations, they end up roaming the streets once they escape the farm; the dogs are “killers” that are now ter- rorising the residents too.

“We neuter and feed these cats and they get slaughtered in this way,” lamented one of the residents. "We are dismayed that the torture and death of the stray cat community seems to be of no con- sequence to the authorities concerned, and that the farmer allows the dogs to roam and kill freely and nothing happens."

The owner is being charged for a contravention which will be settled in court.

CCTV footage of the dogs on residents’ cars