Dog Savages Therapy Alpacas, Owner Films Horrific Attack Instead Of Helping

A dog mauled two therapy alpacas in Giralang, a suburb of the Belconnen district of Canberra, Australia, and the incident was filmed by the dog's owner. Alpaca Therapy founder Nils Lantzke spoke to Australian Broadcasting Corporation News Tuesday night, saying he was heartbroken by the incident.

Lantzke said the attack left one of the alpaca's both of the front legs broken. The dog allegedly bit the animal to the bone and caused so severe injuries that she had to be euthanized. Lantzke added that the most shocking thing about the incident was that the dog's owner filmed the attack on his phone instead of trying to stop his pet.

Lantzke and a friend were walking the two alpacas on the bike path adjacent to Baldwin Drive in Giralang when they saw a man approaching with an unleashed dog described as “a black Staffy.”

“The dog launched into Hercules first. He’s still a young one and he went into classic attack mode on his hind legs with his front legs folded up. I was yelling at the bloke but he wouldn’t do anything, he had his phone out," Lantzke said. “I had a stick and was whacking the dog, and then the dog went for Mimosa who is a tiny little thing. My friend Catherine had to let go of the lead or she would have been pulled to the ground herself.”

“I was screaming at him, ‘get your dog off the alpacas!’ He didn’t. I said, ‘call him [the dog] back’ and he just didn’t do anything,” Lantzke added.

Describing the horrific attack, the owner of the alpacas, who were regulars at Canberra Hospital and Calvary Hospital 2N Mental Health Ward, said that one of them was "in terrible pain."

“Both front legs were broken and her left leg had been bitten to the bone. I had to call the vet and she was euthanized,” Lantzke said.

Talking about Mimosa, the alpaca that was euthanized after the incident, Lantzke said: “She was like my daughter and Hercules is my adopted son. I bought her six years ago and she was wild as anything. I suggested to the owner that if I trained her for therapy work, she’d be more saleable, but after I’d worked with her I didn’t want her to go to another home, so I put her on layby and bought her as a Christmas present to myself."

“She did all that work at the hospice and in the mental health unit. There are young women in there who have been through dreadful stuff, and they don’t talk when they come in. They’d take Mimosa for a walk and she’d start them talking."

Chris Steel, the Australian Capital Territory Minister for City Services, said the incident was under investigation.