Council wants urgent dog execution powers

The Invercargill City Council, which wants the power to kill dogs when they attack people, has backed a call for the Government to treat the matter with more urgency.

Following a spate of dog attacks in Invercargill last year, the city council successfully got the majority support of councils nationwide to push for new laws allowing authorities to kill dogs that attacked people. or perhaps that might attack people. They are the council who killed puppies thinking that their breed automatically makes them to be attacking dogs in the future! ... Too bad they didn't come to listen to expert in 'dog'. Dr Ian Dunbar who here in Feb 2010!

Local Government Minister Rodney Hide subsequently said the Government would consider the issue when it reviewed the dog laws in 2011.

However, the city council yesterday supported a Hastings District Council remit to the local government annual conference, which suggests lobbying the Government to bring forward the dog law review and treat the matter with urgency.

A report to yesterday's city council meeting said better tools were needed to reduce the number of dog attacks and manage dangerous and menacing dogs in the community.

Really sad that the Council doesn't think that subsidising a good quality puppy socialisation classes could help. A lot of these dog attacks would be avoided if the dog was socially well-adjusted, and that dog owners took responsibility of educating themselves and their families about dogs. Learning how to train dogs can spill over to helping families understand the power of positive reinforcement...

Territorial authorities needed practical solutions to dog problems as a matter of priority, the report says.

If passed into law, animal control officers would be given the power to seize and kill a dog if it was known to have attacked a person or animal and was believed to be a continuing danger.

That is a lot of responsibility, and if they don't get it right, a lot of hatred towards authority would ensue! There is enough teeth in the law to keep dangerous dogs out of society... it is the amount of wait time to appear at the courts that is a problem. The process needs reviewing, not the law.

That's my opinion..