Thousands of animals on pounds' death row

But the numbers being euthanased at the animal management shelter in Wiri are falling, Manukau City Council figures show.

There were 2265 dogs put down in the 2005-06 year compared to 2850 in the previous 12 months, a council report shows.

The drop in deaths mirrors a fall in arrivals at the shelter, down from 4579 in 2004-05 to 3954 a year later.

(blah blah blah... statistics. Check out the next paragraph)

DSS managing director Barry Gillingwater says there is no one reason for the drop in the number of dogs being impounded across the city.

But an increasing reluctance by some people to make complaints because they don't want neighbours to lose a dog could be a factor, he says. Well, well... isn't this what I predicted. Statistics, statistics and more lies. You can't rely on statistics to 'prove' that the dog laws are working. If you ask me, they aren't. People might go into hospital because of a dog bite, but they aren't going to say so because their neighbour's dog is really, deep down, a nice dog.

"Fewer people are ringing up now because they don't want to dob in their neighbours. They will work it out between themselves."