A pet dog may be have to be put down after it killed 16 agile wallabies in Far North Queensland on Wednesday morning.
Wildlife carers were called to the sports fields after Cairns police and the council dog catcher saw a dog chasing and attacking wallabies near Trinity Beach.
The wildlife carers arrived on the scene about 4:00am to find multiple wallabies had been mauled.
The Agile Project founder Shai Ager said that carers had to use torches to find the bodies of the wallabies in the pre-dawn light.
"When the initial carer arrived, she thought she would be rescuing one wallaby or joey, but upon arrival she saw bodies scattered across the field," she said.
"She called for backup and another four carers arrived within minutes.
"Fifteen wallabies had been killed, one had to be euthanised, making a total of 16 killed.
'Mass slaughter'
Ms Ager claimed she had warned council and the sporting clubs that this would happen.
"The community really needs to put in the effort to close the gates at the sports fields at night," she said.
"I had a meeting last week with Cairns council and the sports clubs and I pointed out that this was a possibility.
"I told them that the wallabies would be like sitting ducks if a dog gets in — if there's 250 wallabies in the field it would be a mass slaughter.
Ms Ager said one dog, apparently a pet, was responsible.
"The police saw the dog attacking the wallabies and I've been told it was a big brown bull mastiff," she said.
"People who live in the northern beaches know that there is a large established wallaby population, so we need to extra measures so that dogs can't escape from our yards and dog owners need to take some responsibility for that."
'No dogs located', council says
In statement, Cairns Regional Council told the ABC that officers had responded to a call of a dog or dogs roaming "at large" and chasing wallabies about 3:00am.
It said no dogs were found at the time, but an animal was later impounded.
"However, it appears that 15 wallabies did die as a result of capture myopathy — a stress-related death caused by being chased or scared," the statement said.
"Council has not confirmed if this dog was responsible.
"Council is continuing with its investigation and urges the public to report any dog attacks."
The statement said it was the Department of Environment and Science's responsibility to manage wallabies and that the council had made a "significant contribution" to The Agility project, and had spent $122,000 on fencing at the Trinity Beach Sporting Precinct.
Survivors 'extremely stressed'
Ms Ager said she thought the dog would probably be euthanased.
"Not only is that dog dangerous to the wallaby population, but also to other people who may lose their pet because of this dog," she said.
"Even if you don't like the wallabies, if your dog does get out and kill, then your dog may have to be put down.
Ms Ager called on the council to maintain the fencing around the sports grounds so that there were no holes and also for pet owners to play their and keep their dogs inside their yards.
"We rescued four babies that morning, then found another two later that afternoon," she said.
"I slept with one down my top last night as it was crying.
"The baby joeys are extremely traumatised and stressed, but they are now with qualified carers.
"We have a three-day rule — if they make it past three days, then they are looking strong for making a recovery.
