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.

June 07, 2006

Council troubled by dog attacks


The dog, or dogs, which have killed 11 sheep in the Maungati area within the last three weeks still remain at large.

In Waimate there had been two reports of dogs attacking other dogs which had resulted in vet treatment.

Where's this going? I mean, dogs attack other dogs every day... and not always in a bad way...

Planning and regulatory manager Brent Donaldson said investigations were still continuing into the sheep deaths. "We have done a lot of research and door knocking but we have not found the dogs responsible and they remain at large." How much did that cost?

"Sometimes the owners know their dogs have been responsible and put them down themselves."

What are the incentives for a dog owner to acknowledge it? I mean, they'll get a $500 fine plus a "can't own dogs for 5 years". Would you own up?

Once the council located the dog they had a number of options.

They could declare the dog menacing or dangerous, they could come to an agreement with the owner to contain their dogs better and build appropriate fences, and in extreme cases get an order from the court to have the dog destroyed.

And...no fine ?!? My dog pisses on a fence unsupervised and he gets done for it and these dogs wouldn't ?!?

"We prefer to work with the dog owners. "If a dog comes to the pound and has its tags on a collar we will locate the owner and they can have their dog back free of charge the first time round. This is to encourage people to have their dogs registered."

Well, well, well... it seems that the City of Christchurch Dog Pound people have a thing or two to learn from Waimate !!

Dog control officers had a regular beat around Waimate and generally there were few problems.

Dog control officer Ross Andrew said the biggest problem was dogs without identification.

While the council is dealing with an influx of dog problems, it had also resolved to shift the funding for dog control increasingly from ratepayers' pockets. As a result of the long term council community plan it would cost $30 for the first dog and $14 to register any additional dogs. The ratepayers would go from funding only 10 per cent of the dog and animal control to 40 per cent.

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