Mother locks herself and five children in RSPCA cage in bid to save pet dog

Police in Australia were called to the RSPCA'S Bohle shelter yesterday after a woman locked herself and her five children inside a cage with their pet dog that was about to be euthanised. Helene Douma, 25, and her children aged from nine to five months had been allowed to visit the shelter to spend time with their dog Shadow before she was put down by order of the Townsville City Council.

Once inside the caged enclosure with Shadow at 9am, Ms Douma used a padlock she had hidden in her clothing to lock a chain around the gate. Police were called and at 10.50am they arrived with bolt cutters to cut the chain. The bolt cutters were not needed and 20 minutes after police arrived Ms Douma, of her own volition, led her children out of the cage after officers warned her that if they had to cut the chain she would be arrested and her children would be placed in care.



When Ms Douma emerged more than two hours after locking herself in, she and her three eldest children formed a circle and hugged and cried in the shelter's carpark for several minutes before being asked by police to leave the area. When she came out she said Shadow was innocent of any wrongdoing.

She said the dog was a victim of malicious complaints and that Townsville City Council had erred badly in judgement and in stealing a harmless dog from its family and sentencing it to death. Ms Douma said Shadow ``would never hurt anyone''. The 14-year-old dog was subsequently put down.