Southland District Council Clamps Down On 'Bad Dog Owners'

Wednesday, 16 October 2024, 6:47 pm
Article: Matthew Rosenberg - Local Democracy Reporter

A southern council is taking a no-prisoners approach to those flouting the rules with dog ownership.

The number of infringements issued by Southland District Council for the past reporting year - ending June 2024 - has risen by almost 50 percent.

Council manager regulatory services Adrian Humphries said his organisation was targeting repeat rule-breakers.

"So we are focusing on the bad dog owners and saying, 'you're not getting more chances'," Humphries said.

"By the time we've issued an infringement notice for registration, they've been contacted by us at least five times.

"That's not reasonable conduct on their part if they don't want to pay it."

A total of 150 infringements were issued for the 2023/24 period, up from 103 for the previous reporting year.

Of those infringements, a large bump related to unregistered dogs, which rose from 75 to 114 between periods.

Biting dogs was another issue that had arisen lately, he said.

"More recently, we've got dogs biting everybody for fun it seems. We don't know why, we're trying to work that out."

With the council's dog bylaw set to be reviewed in early 2025, the council had already undertaken some pre-analysis.

Humphries said it had revealed a desire for dog parks to be built in certain areas, along with positive feedback for the council's control officers.

A total 665 complaints were received for the 2023/24 reporting year, up from 659 the previous year.

Dog impoundments had decreased from 57 to 33 between periods.

LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.

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