Media Release

January 14, 2009

Dog’s mouth muzzled with electrical tape

It was a sight that made even professional Animal Welfare staff weep.

Waitakere City Council animal welfare staff sees their fair share of abandoned, ill-treated and injured animals but even they have been sickened by the condition of a dog found on a Massey property.

“The dog, named Bobbie, had its mouth tied up with electrical tape, more than once it would seem and his face was very swollen with scars and dead tissue,” says Animal Welfare manager Neil Wells.

“It was a horrific sight.”

“It was initially difficult to tell what breed it is because its face is was so disfigured,” he says of the animal, whose legs had also been tied with rope leaving scars.

“Now that the swelling has gone down we can see that it’s possibly a Mastiff crossed with a Labrador,” he says.

Officers were alerted to the animal’s plight by a member of the public who’d noticed the dog wandering the street with rope tied between its legs. When they located the dog they found its mouth taped shut with electrical tape.

Mr Wells says the do-it-yourself muzzling of the dog was a crude solution by its owner to stop the animal ripping into rubbish bags.

Bobbie underwent surgery on his face last week and had to have part of his tongue removed.

“Because its mouth had been taped up it was unable to pant properly and part of its tongue had died,” says Mr Wells.

Bobbie’s owner will be prosecuted for ill-treatment.

In spite of its ordeal, Mr Wells says the dog has a lovely nature and once healed will be put up for adoption.

Anyone interested in adopting Bobbie or any animals can contact Animal Welfare Waitakere through the council’s 24-hour call centre on 839 0400.

Summer is a particularly busy time for the Animal Welfare Waitakere team with many unwanted and abandoned pets ending up at its Henderson headquarters.

“It had actually been relatively quiet leading up to Christmas and we had wondered if there had been a change in attitude towards responsibilities towards animals” says Mr Wells.

“But it seems as soon as Christmas was over and people started heading off on holiday that things have really picked up and we’ve had a lot of calls of animals being abandoned or left at home without adequate provision.”

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