Dog officer disappointed with new law

Farmers should be the last ones to celebrate working dogs' exemption from controversial microchipping laws, Kaikoura dog control officer Murray Devine says.

"When you think about farmers and the problems they have with dogs on their properties, attacking stock, microchipping would have enabled identification of the offending dogs straight away," Mr Devine said.

Because losing sheep equated to losing money, he believed farmers would have benefited from microchipping. A chip would allow a connection to the dog owner and a chance to recover the loss. The exemption was a "sad" decision for Kaikoura, Mr Devine said. "From my point of view they may as well throw the whole thing away."

He said that in Kaikoura a high number of working dogs ended up in the pound and remained unclaimed, eventually being destroyed or relocated. MORE>>