A dog was taken to the vet with a hook in its mouth last week and another possible ‘trap’ was found today as a string of potential dog bait and hook incidents occur at Clontarf Reserve.
Local resident Julie Hodder was walking with her friend and their dogs when they came across a fishing line baited with food wrapped around the tree last week, when they went to investigate, horror struck.
“We were just walking along in the park, and we saw some fishing line hanging out of a tree… we walked over to the fishing line, tried to get it off, and just lifted it a bit and noticed that there was a hook at the other end. It looked like some cheese or something, and this little devil grabbed it and swallowed it,” Julie said, gesturing to her friend’s pugalier, Marine, who took the bait as they sat metres away from the incident.
“We could actually see the end of the hook was attached to the inside of her mouth or her tongue, and she was in quite a lot of distress… we went to the car and took her up to the vet, she was so distressed that she actually ripped the hook out of her mouth, which wouldn’t have been very pleasant.”
Hours later, a concerned mother posted on the Facebook group, Balgowlah Heights (NSW) Community Noticeboard, sharing an unsettling story from her 11 year old son.
The boy was allegedly verbally abused and threatened by 3-4 teens until he hid away on Spit Bridge Rd. The mother claimed the boys were “deliberately wrapping fishing line around trees with bait for dogs.” Manly Observer has reached out to the woman, but was unable to confirm the claim before publication.
The woman who was looking after Marine the pugalier saw four teens with fishing rods climbing around the closed glass barrier at Clontarf Marina and asked them to stop shortly after the hooking incident. She was met with aggressive “barking” from the boys.
We visited Clontarf Marina for CCTV of the teens in an attempt to work with witnesses to see if their identities match the boys seen setting up the alleged traps – this process is ongoing.
However, while there Manly Observer uncovered another unsettling discovery. Marina staff showed cans wrapped in lines and hooks they pulled from the ocean. The traps looked to be designed to catch fish without any intention of release.
Staff said the cans floated from the direction of four teens, hanging out with a separate group, who were “carrying on” at Clontarf’s netted pool.
Crime Stoppers were contacted by Julie and she was told to not remove the line until investigators arrived. When they never came, she re-inquired only to find out no Northern Beaches police stations had any reference to the case in their systems.
A detective then got back to her saying no offence had been made and that it was a matter for the Council.
Unfortunately, this matter is no longer a one off case. This morning, 24 April, a woman found another line wrapped around a tree in Clontarf, this time with three hooks and a fish attached to it.
“It was like twine around a tree, admittedly it had been broken, but it was sort of wrapped around and then had three hooks and one still had a big piece of fish on it,” the woman told Manly Observer.
“At the time, I was with two half Labradors and a Labrador, and they were just going for it, even when it was in my hand, like I was trying to remove it.”
Northern Beaches Council have said they will look into both matters and were unable to comment on why police couldn’t investigate the incident themselves.
For the meantime, if you are a Clontarf regular who enjoys walking their dog in the area, we advise to stay vigilant.
We will bring updates as this story continues to unfold.
