STORY / ARTICLE WAITOMO NEWS – www.waitomonews.co.nz

Waitomo mayor Brian Hanna says the council will re-visit its dog control bylaw to give it more power following the death of five sheep mauled on a Te Kuiti farm last week.

The sheep were mauled on Wednesday and Thursday nights and either died of their injuries or were put down.

The Liverpool St farm owner, Paul Buist, is “fed up” with the ongoing dog attacks and wants Waitomo District Council to urgently introduce stricter controls on dangerous breeds.

Mr Buist is calling for mandatory castrating/neutering, night patrols and higher fees to help prevent any stock or young child being mauled in the future.

Mr Hanna says the dogs responsible for mauling the sheep were located during the weekend and put down by the council’s dog control officer.

In addition to the quick capture of the offending dogs, Mr Hanna says the council will look at what regulatory

changes can be made to its dog control bylaw, however, they are bound by government laws as to what is determined a “menacing breed”.

The five breeds deemed menacing at present are: American Pit Bull Terrier, Dogo Argentina, Brazilian Fila, Japanese Tosa and Perro de Presa Canario.

Other breeds can be added to the list but only after being approved by Parliament.

“Having been a farmer for a long while any dog can attack a sheep and I’ve seen Foxies and Labradors do it so it’s not just dangerous breeds,” says Mr Hanna.

 “So while we can’t determine what are dangerous breeds, we are taking this latest incident very seriously and we will have another look at the bylaw to try and see where we can give it more teeth.

“What we can do is look at increasing surveillance and taking a much stronger regulatory approach to prevent these incidents from happening in the future.”

Council statistics show that the number of dogs classified as menacing in the Waitomo district increased from 19 in 2011-2012, to 27 in 2013- 2014.

During the same period, the number of rushing/biting incidents decreased from six to three however, stock attacks increased from eight to 11.

Waitomo District Council would like to clarify that our statistics actually show that the number of dogs classified as menacing in the Waitomo district were 19 in 2011/12 and 27 in the period 2012/13, and 2013/14.

You can view the WDC Report on Dog Control Policies and Practices on our website.