Letters To The Editor

Hi Rach,

Long time reader, first time emailer.

Firstly I wanted to say thanks for sharing your coffee chat with Julie.

Secondly & the reason for my email is that I had no idea about what happened to Luke! My heart goes out to his family & I am outraged to hear this stuff happens here in Australia let alone in our own backyard. The amount of police force used is shocking, I don't blame the mother for seeking justice, this is simply not right.

Thank you for sharing her story & supporting her. I am only 1 person but I want to sign her petition - can you please share these details or publish in next week's paper & please keep the community posted on how this progresses.

Many thanks,

Jasmin Bedford

Eimeo, Mackay.

Hi Jasmin, thank you for your email. You can access Luke’s petition by going to the family’s Facebook page ‘Justice for Luke (Luke Gilbert)’ and click the pinned link to the petition. Or you can head directly to change.org and look him up there.

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Letter to The Editor,

I am writing about two articles, that appeared in your paper on February 17 & February 24, 2023.

Both of these articles are NOT factual and are very misleading to the public. It was very distressing to read them.

I personally witnessed the attack on the steer, and along with a neighbour John, had to fight off 3 DOGS that were mauling a steer. In the first article posted on 17/02, the owner of the dogs claimed “three of her dogs escaped and ALLEGEDELY attacked cattle”. The truth was, all 7 of her dogs had escaped. Although, some were not directly involved in this horrendous attack, they were barking and yapping at the 3 steers. They had 1 steer on the ground, biting him and dragging him and all he could do was bellow in pain and was defenceless against 3 dogs.

I have attached a photo taken the morning after the attack by Christina’s dogs in the stables of the neighbour’s property. The 3 steers fled their property and ran through barbed wire fences in terror. The 2nd photo is a few days later after the steers were calm enough to come back to their own paddock. They were and still are, very skittish.

In the second article posted on the 24/02, the owner claimed that only 2 dogs escaped “and one of them bit a cow on the neck”! This is in vast contrast to what happened. I am aware that there were 3 witness statements provided to the council.

Contrary to the owner’s claims, this was an unprovoked attack to the steers by her dogs. I am aware that 1 dog was put down.

Since the incident at no stage has the owner of the dogs apologised for their behaviours, inquired about the health of the steer attacked or asked after my wellbeing in regard to this horrendous and vicious attack.

I hope that this letter serves to provide a more balanced view of the facts.

Angela Herschel

The author of this letter is referring to an incident where some dogs escaped a local residence and subsequently attacked a cow. She was looking after the property at the time and was first on the scene. After receiving this email, I called Angela and we had a good conversation. She was clearly traumatised and wanted to ensure that both sides of the story were understood by the community. If you wish to read the full articles you can view them here: bit.ly/3GgW8px and bit.ly/3LTjHs3

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While we do not always have space to publish a regular Letters to the Editor column, we will endeavour to ensure readers have the opportunity for their voice to be heard and messages to be conveyed to the community through the newspaper. Please send your letters, concerns and compliments to rachael@mackayandwhitsundaylife.com, we will publish as many as we can.

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