A woman who encouraged her dog to attack and kill wallabies on school grounds – praising the animal as it mauled its prey for minutes – has lost her appeal against a dangerous dog declaration.
The Tasmanian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (TASCAT) dismissed the appeal by Trista Mollross and her partner Anthony Blackaby this month, finding it was “lacking in substance”.
The incident unfolded on the grounds of Dominic College, north of Hobart, in February 2024, when Mollross spotted a Bennett’s wallaby and urged her unregistered dog Billie to attack.
“Go get it,” she told the dog.
Mollross filmed the attack on her phone while encouraging Billie throughout, saying “what a good girl” and “get it, good girl, I think it’s dead now”.
Blackaby grabbed the wallaby by the neck and held it so the dog could better latch on. Neither owner made any attempt to stop the attack.
A child’s voice can be heard in the footage saying “your dog is naughty”.
The wallaby died from its injuries. A veterinary consultant found the attack caused “unreasonable and unjustifiable pain and suffering”.
Mollross later messaged a family member about the dog: “I didn’t think she had it in her ahahah but she was savage as.”
She returned to the same location in March 2024, again filming as Billie attacked another wallaby that was effectively trapped.
Both owners pleaded guilty to aggravated animal cruelty in the Supreme Court last year and received suspended prison sentences.
Each was banned from having custody of any dog for 18 months.
The Glenorchy City Council declared Billie dangerous, pointing to the attacks and Mollross’s long history of irresponsible dog ownership, including multiple prior dangerous dog declarations involving other dogs.
The couple appealed, offering character references and videos of Billie behaving well around other animals.
TASCAT described the footage of the attacks as “quite frankly, sickening” and found the couple’s evidence did nothing to counter the council’s case.
