Our maremma dogs

In late November one of our maremma dogs, Amor, was featured in several photos that were posted to a local community Facebook page.

In the post, Council was accused of not caring for Amor. Some people were concerned he was resting on a patch of bare earth and that there were weeds in the paddock.  The person who took the photos thought he looked distressed.

The photos were taken on November 26 and passed on to another person who posted them to the Warrnambool and District Noticeboard Facebook page. Commentary accompanying the photos made unfounded accusations against Council. The post gained traction and was shared about 2000 times, which resulted in online criticism towards Council, Flagstaff Hill and those involved in the Middle Island maremma program. 

There were also calls from angry people made to staff at Flagstaff Hill and to the customer service team at the Civic Centre. A number of emails repeating the unfounded claims from the Facebook post were also received by Council.

The problem with the social media post was that the depiction of neglect is wrong.

Amor is one of our oldest maremmas and in the photos posted to the Warrnambool and District Noticeboard he looked tired as he leaned against his kennel at Flagstaff Hill. He looked a bit old and tired, mainly because he is old and does not have the vigour of a younger dog.

At nine years of age, he’s also getting on a bit: maremmas are not a particularly long-lived breed. 

Amor has a medical condition that affects his rear legs and has caused him to lose weight. He is on a care plan that has been devised by vets and which is followed by a dedicated team of dog handlers and the caring staff at Flagstaff Hill.

The pictures on this page were taken on December 5 at Flagstaff Hill, where the dogs are kept in a grassy area of about 200sqm.

You can see that Amor and Avis are cared for and that Amor, despite his medical condition, is happy and mobile.

The team directly involved with the Middle Island program is deeply invested in the dogs and have their welfare as a top priority. The team does all it can to ensure the dogs are as happy and healthy as possible.

The Facebook post and suggestions of neglect are very upsetting for the staff and volunteers who make a huge effort to look after the dogs. It’s a job they do very well.

Our dogs enjoy rich and stimulating lives. To gain an accurate insight into all that they get up to we encourage people to go to www.instagram.com/wboolpenguins/

All of our maremma dogs spend much of their time in open space (about 1500sqm) near Deakin University which includes specially built shelters. It’s an environment that has everything they need. It even has a few chickens on site to help keep their protector senses sharp.

It is very clear that our maremma dogs are loved, cared for, safe and receive excellent veterinary care.
 

Andrew Mason

Chief Executive Officer

Warrnambool City Council