New Zealand Dog News

Reviewing the dog news in New Zealand with editors comments. Someone needs to keep reviewing how our dogs are doing in society.

March 02, 2006

Child badly injured after dog attack

A nine-year-old boy received serious injuries to his upper body when, an American Pitbull attacked him as he walked down a shared right-of-way, off Harold Avenue, Kaikohe, at about 4:50pm on Monday last week.

The youth was admitted to a local medical centre and transferred to Whangarei Hospital for further treatment.

Far North District Council animal control officers located and detained the dog within 20-minutes of the attack and are making enquiries with a view to prosecuting the dog's owner.

Far North Mayor Yvonne Sharp said the latest dog attack deeply concerned her.
"Somehow, we have to bring the message home to owners that allowing their dogs to wander unsupervised, or not under immediate control, can lead to a serious incident. Oh, hogwash! dogs that wander don't pose that much of a problem. It's the unsocialised dogs that wander that pose a threat.

"It is totally unacceptable that a member of the public, particularly a small child, is not able to walk the streets in total safety from attacks such as this," she said. Yes, I agree! There are other dangerous threats out there too, but dogs shouldn't be one of them.

Mayor Sharp said the council was reviewing its bylaws, with the intention of toughening the rules applying to dogs in public areas, and was close to notifying bylaw changes for public comment. Right! Let's get tough on dogs! Ya, that'll fix the problem!! It worked for drugs, why wouldn't it work for dogs!

Meanwhile, a Harold Avenue resident said she called the council at least six times in the 12-months prior to last week's attack to complain about the same dogs.
"It seemed as though the council only issued warnings," she said.

Not in Christchurch. Dog Officers lie. They tell you they'll give you a warning, but they issue a ticket. They should educate the public instead of going attacking good dog owners...

2 Comments:

  • At 8:27 p.m., Anonymous Anonymous said…

    What do mean socialised? Are you suggesting a dog that has roamed the streets as it sees fit probably all its life has not developed social skills?

     
  • At 12:59 p.m., Blogger Natalie's Life said…

    The newspapers and the media have a way of telling people that they should be wary of all wandering dogs... as if a wandering dogs is a BAD thing.

    I see dogs wandering, and my immediate reaction is not 'watch out because it might bite' but mroe like, should I bring it home.

    Not all wandering dogs are dangerous. Would you rather see a wandering dog that socialised or not? Of course, you'd never know except perhpas if it has a dog tag that says that it's registered. Then you presume that it's got a loving dog owner, and it's just out sniffing the neighbours fence.

    Does that clarify or am I just fluffing?

     

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