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Attacks, Hoarding, Neglect: Masterton Dog Rules Under The Spotlight
An animal welfare advocate has painted a grim picture of Masterton’s dog control issues, labelling the situation “untenable”.
A child was bitten on the face over the weekend, while irresponsible owners are killing or dumping surplus puppies, the advocate told council.
Masterton District Council recently consulted on an updated dog control policy and bylaw which attracted 135 submissions from the community.
The Control of Dogs Bylaw and the Dog Policy aimed to minimise danger, distress and nuisance to the community while striking a balance with the needs of dogs and their owners for exercise and recreation.
On Wednesday, the council’s hearings committee heard submissions from a handful of people including HUHA (Helping You Help Animals) chief executive Carolyn Press-McKenzie.
She told councillors that irresponsible owners and uncontrolled dogs were creating public safety and animal welfare issues in Masterton.
“Things have got to a point where they are just untenable,” she said.
She said HUHA had received two calls on the weekend from Masterton; one was about a child who was bitten on the face by an ex-farm dog puppy and another was “a hoarding situation that was out of control”.
Press-McKenzie said HUHA supported the proposed changes in the council’s bylaw and policy which included discretion for the council to waive surrendering fees.
“A few weeks ago we took an unwanted litter of pups from a Masterton farm. The farmer was going to drown them, but his wife intervened,” she said.
“Thanks to the old fashioned theory that working dogs work harder if not desexed and the unlimited number of dogs allowed on a farm, this work is ongoing, time consuming and extremely expensive for HUHA."
She said that not all dogs owned by farmers were working dogs and said there needed to be some way to regulate registrations in these contexts.
“Farmers should also be encouraged to desex all dogs not intended for breeding.”
Another problem for Masterton was the volume of puppies bred by irresponsible pig hunters, Press-McKenzie said.
“The constant breeding to find the perfect hunting dogs, means that the hundreds of surplus puppies are banged on the head, drowned, dumped, or passed on to ill-equipped community members.
“This is extremely irresponsible and inappropriate.”
She believed there were also rural areas in Masterton suspected to be holding dogs for the purpose of dog fighting.
A limitation on dogs registered to these rural properties would give animal control officers more enforcement tools, Press-McKenzie said.
Another submitter Darren McGregor, from NZ Post, said delivery workers were being attacked by dogs in Masterton or became injured trying to escape from dogs.
He said there had been 31 recorded dog incidents involving NZ Post staff or contractors in Masterton over the past five years.
“We welcome any steps that Masterton District Council takes with reference to dogs that would make our employees and contractors safer when delivering to customers within its area,” McGregor said.
He said delivery workers aimed to deliver items to the door as that was the expectation of customers.
“When customers have a dog or dogs running loose in their property and there is no safe access to a door without encountering a dog, that puts delivery people’s safety at risk.
“It is only luck that has prevented our local delivery people from suffering serious life changing injuries because of dogs. Elsewhere in the country people have not been so lucky.”
He asked the council to enforce safe access to at least one door of a house without encountering a dog.
The council’s hearings committee would discuss the submissions and consider community views and staff advice, and decide recommendations at the committee meeting scheduled for April 30.
LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
Local Democracy Reporting
Content from the Local Democracy Reporting (LDR) service is published by Scoop as a registered New Zealand Media Outlet LDR Partner.
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