Mr Langbein’s young dogs Buck, Sasha and Charlie were poisoned with bait and abused sometime in the early hours of Wednesday morning, in an attack Ms Irwin described as “very traumatic”.

Ms Irwin found the dogs in the backyard of Mr Langbein’s Warrendine home on Thursday around lunchtime after neighbours alerted the family of the dogs’ condition.

“When I came around the side I saw one dog having a seizure, and then there was Buck just lying there and the other dog was at the other end of the yard, having a seizure,” Ms Irwin said.

Buck, a great dane, died in the backyard, while Sasha and Charlie were rushed to Orange Veterinary Hospital where they clung to life over the weekend.

Ms Irwin said it appeared the perpetrators wanted to take Buck, but smaller family dogs Sasha and Charlie got in the way.

“I believe someone tried to steal the big dog and something went wrong. They had all these chunks of flesh ripped off and injuries all over their bodies. The vet said they’d been abused. We found bait bombs in the backyard. I think they were meant for the two dogs and they wanted to take the big dog,” she said.

Mr Langbein has been left with upwards of $3000 in vet bills, and Ms Irwin said he was inconsolable over the death of Buck.

Ms Irwin said on a post Mr Langbein put on Facebook mourning the loss of Buck, three people commented that their dogs had also been poisoned on the same night.

She wasn’t sure if the attack was random or targeted but said she hoped by sharing her family’s story, other dog owners in Orange would be more aware of people with malicious intent.

“Lock your animals away. I’m hoping people realise there are sinister people out there.”

Source: Central Western Daily