When it came, the attack was sudden, violent and left two male alpacas ripped apart and dead.
Simon* still doesn't know how the two American Staffordshire terriers penetrated three rings of sturdy 1.2 metre-high wire fencing around his alpaca farm in a town in New South Wales.
But he will never forget what the pair of dogs did after marauding across otherwise serene paddocks of his and wife's alpaca, some which are worth $60,000.
American Staffordshire terriers are top of the NSW dog attack list, based on government data covering September 2020 - March 2021.(Adobe Stock)
READ MORE:
"They ran round our stud males, our youngest stud males group, and they managed to separate the littlest guy from the rest of the herd," Simon said, theorising that the American staffies must have "jumped over the fences or whatever to get through".