23-05-2025
Aussie's five-year legal battle with council over pet dogs: 'Spent over $100k'
A dog owner accused of letting his two Jack Russells bark all day and night has vowed to fight his local council, despite claiming he's already shelled out over $100,000 on the gruelling five-year legal saga.
Glenn Tong first got wind that his neighbours in an apartment block in Melbourne's eastern suburbs were reportedly unhappy with his pets Marco and Mia in 2017. The long-time Hawthorn resident told Yahoo News he started receiving letters from Boroondara Council alleging the dogs were creating a nuisance and waking others up at 2am.
'There were three or four of these letters, and every single time I wrote back 'Well, it's not my dogs',' he said. 'They sleep with us under the doona in bed so if the dogs bark, my wife and I would wake up straight away, and we don't like waking up at 2am. They didn't listen.'
In October, 2020 Tong copped two charges from the council — one for each Marco and Mia — alleging he was allowing them to bark excessively, particularly early in the morning and late in the evening.
'This is a lot rubbish. It's complete nonsense,' the biotech expert reportedly told Brett Melke, who specialises in canine law, when he called for help.
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After four years, Tong finally appeared in the Melbourne Magistrates' Court in February, 2024 with Melke and his criminal barrister Tass Antos, but it didn't go as they had hoped.
'The magistrate was adamant that she would not give us the time that we asked for to present our evidence,' Tong claimed. 'My legal team and I basically said, well if we can't present all of our evidence here, we're going to lose anyway, so we made the decision to not provide any.'
As a result, he was found guilty and copped a $2,310 fine. Tong was also ordered to walk his dogs on a daily basis, and hire a professional trainer. Less than an hour later, Tong — who claims to have spent over $100,000 on the lengthy legal battle — and his team filed an appeal.
A hearing in the Country Court of Victoria has been set for November, which he expects will cost another $55,000 to $60,000. However, not appealing the ruling could leave him without a home, Tong said.
'My dogs are certainly not barking at those times and in those situations and I'm not going to plead guilty to it,' he told Yahoo. More importantly, a guilty verdict could prompt the complainants to obtain a removal order from the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT), forcing he, his wife, and their pets, from their home of 21 years.
'That would be disastrous,' he said.
A spokesperson for the City of Boroondara told Yahoo the council 'understands excessive barking can be a nuisance and will investigate complaints from Boroondara residents and take action as necessary'. 'As this matter is before the courts, we are unable to comment further,' they said.
Tong has created a GoFundMe to help fund the upcoming court case.
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