7th June 2018
Cootamundra-Gundagai Regional Council has introduced a new safety system for capturing, transporting and holding impounded animals, in particular dogs with the fitting of K-9 Kubes fitted to CGRC Ranger vehicles.
The K-9 Kube has a hydraulic lift to allow dogs to be loaded at ground level and moved up onto the tray of the vehicle without being lifted by the Ranger.
The Australian-made product is designed to aid safer work practices and is a more humane way of collecting and transporting stray animals by eliminating undue stress on the animal and risk of injury to staff.
The K-9 Kube was developed by CJM Attachments to solve the Work, Health and Safety issues associated with handling animals, including problems of dog bites, scratching, and lifting injuries. The equipment has ventilated cages with sight windows so the condition of an impounded animal can be closely monitored and it won’t suffer from heat exhaustion or lack of air.
Cootamundra-Gundagai Regional Council’s Senior Regulatory Officer, Glen McAtear said the new equipment will ensure the safety of handlers and animals.
“The safety of our animal management staff is paramount, the equipment will enable our Rangers to complete their duties in a much safer way. It will address the issues experienced by our Rangers when dealing with distressed dogs unassisted when out on patrol.”
“This is our second K-9 Kube. The one used at Cootamundra has been really successful,” Mr McAtear said.
Previously Rangers had to manually load animals into a standard transporter cage on the back of their utility vehicles, which proved difficult when dealing with larger or uncooperative dogs. The equipment allows for everything to be done on ground level, with the cage easily adjustable to facilitate the transport of animals of all sizes.
Photo and caption
Cootamundra-Gundagai Regional Council’s Ranger Andrew Wiegold is pictured with the new K-9 Kube that has been fitted to the ranger vehicle at Gundagai this week. The equipment will reduce the risk of injury to rangers and impounded animals
