A Cassilis man who has been assisted by the Dubbo community after losing everything in the Sir Ivan fire has suffered another setback.
Warren Jarvis has become the victim of aggressive and senseless verbal attacks on social media and the comment sections of media websites including the Daily Liberal and the Sydney Morning Herald that reported his story.
Mr Jarvis’ house and animals were destroyed in the fire on Sunday, including 33 greyhounds.
The majority of the attacks focused on Mr Jarvis being a greyhound trainer and suggested he didn’t do enough to save his animals.
The more despicable comments even suggested Mr Jarvis should have died in the fire instead of his dogs.
National Greyhound Racing United, an advocacy group for the sport, has defended Mr Jarvis.
NGRU national manager James Schierny said regardless of anyone’s stance on greyhound racing attacking a 68-year-old man who had lost everything was “disgusting”.
“These people preach about how compassionate they are and then they write things like Warren should have been killed in the fire instead of his dogs,” he said.
“This man has just lost everything, he doesn’t need to see that.”
Mr Schierny said he had received information from local police that Mr Jarvis had to be removed from his property by police because he was trying to open gates and kennel doors when the fire approached.
“He was unlocking everything, cages, gates, when the police came and he was told he would be handcuffed and forcibly removed if he didn’t leave immediately because of the danger he was in,” he said.
“For people to suggest he didn’t do everything he could is just plain wrong.
“You can’t prepare for something like that, and he did what he could before he had to leave.”
