A young family has been left traumatised, after they witnessed three dogs brutally savage a kangaroo in front of their suburban home.
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Mother Zoe Bellman and her two children aged 8 and 10, were leaving their Sebastopol home for swimming lessons about 5:15pm on Monday, October 2, when three unsupervised dogs chased down and killed a kangaroo in front of them.
"I backed out of my driveway and I've seen a kangaroo coming down the street," Ms Bellman said.
"Three dogs were chasing it, so I pulled off the road so I didn't hit any of the animals."
"One of the dogs got to the kangaroo before the other two did, so the kangaroo tried to fight [it off], and then the other two bigger dogs got to it and took it down."
Ms Bellman said there were no owners in sight, and that one dog appeared to be a whippet, and another a staghound like breed, but was unsure about the third.
She said they were now concerned about the safety of their neighbourhood with three dangerous dogs on the loose.
The residential area has a dog park, playground and nursing home nearby, and Ms Bellman said she believed the kangaroo was chased to their street, as they have lived there for 15 years without ever seeing one.
The young family are now feeling "shocked" by what they saw, and Ms Bellman said her children were finding it difficult to process what had happened.
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"They didn't really understand why a pet would do something like that, it's traumatic for all of us," she said.
"They talk about it nearly every day, I've had a couple of teachers reach out and say that they've spoken about it in class, so they're obviously thinking about it."
"We went to the Kyabram Fauna Park last week, they were feeding kangaroos and patting them and [now] my daughter turned around [and said' 'we were just feeding them and patting them and now we've just seen one be murdered in a really horrible way.'"
City of Ballarat director development and growth Natalie Robertson said in a statement to The Courier that they were investigating an alleged incident involving three dogs and a kangaroo in Sebastopol.
"As a formal investigation is underway, the City of Ballarat is not in a position to comment further on the matter," the statement said.
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