A GoFundMe set up by Annalyse’s family to cover costs while she was hospitalised described the incident as “every parent’s worst nightmare”.
Police are continuing their inquiries into the incident, noting that there was no information to suggest the dog was a “significant risk” to the community, and that its owners described the attack as “out of character”.
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The tragic death is the latest in a rising number of dog attacks in NSW. An inquest into seven fatal dog attacks from 2009 to 2023, including the death of a five-week-old baby in 2021, found that infants and toddlers were particularly at risk in the “concerning” upwards trend.
“Infants or children are at greater risk because of their size and vulnerability and potentially because of their behaviour around dogs,” deputy state coroner Carmel Forbes said in January this year.
Forbes recommended the government consider requiring pet owners to hold a licence, with conditional licences for those seeking to own restricted breeds and safety training for dog owners, and harsher penalties for people who don’t comply with microchipping and registration requirements.
She also recommended that the council have stronger powers to seize a dog or require the dog to be muzzled or placed on a lead.
Hospitalisations from dog injuries across the country have more than doubled in the eight years to 2021, data from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare shows, from 17 hospitalisations per 100,000 population to 37.
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