Calls for vet care after police stun 144 animals

Police have used Tasers on dogs well over a hundred times over the last decade, and then left the animals without veterinary care despite calls from animal welfare groups for a change in policy.

Footage obtained by 1News shows officers firing probes into dogs, sending electric shocks through their bodies and leaving them convulsing in pain.

In all, officers fired Tasers at 144 dogs between 2013 and 2023.

Police said Tasers are only ever used as a “last resort” when an animal is posing a risk to officers, the public or other animals.

But their approach is causing alarm at New Zealand’s most prominent animal welfare group, the SPCA.

Its chief scientific officer Arnja Dale said police are failing to provide medical care to the dogs afterwards.

Dale has now been lobbying for change for six years, saying Tasers can have significant short and long-term physical and mental impacts on the pets.

While the use of Tasers was understandable in urgent situations, where all other options have been exhausted, aftercare was “critically important”, she said. In some cases, the dogs may be left with probes still in their bodies.

“Tasers are designed for adult humans, and clearly able to subdue adult humans, so the dogs are much smaller usually, and weigh much less, and so actually require urgent veterinary attention,” Dale added.

However, there is no record of any medical care given to animals shocked by police in the last decade.

Data provided to 1News under the Official Information Act shows police used a Taser on an animal on average of 13 times a year across the 11-year period 2013-23. Incidents continued at a similar rate in the most recent years.

The surrounding detail is recorded for most cases, with one describing how an animal was stopping police from intervening on an assault. Others described how dogs were attacking other dogs, or growling at police.

There is no reference, on any listing, of veterinary treatment given to dogs afterwards.

1News approached police for comment but they declined to be interviewed for this story, and sent a statement by email instead.

It reiterated that Tasers were only used on animals in last resort situations.

“Tactical options, including Taser, support frontline police to prevent harm by enabling them to intervene effectively,” the statement from Superintendent Dave Grieg said.

The Police Association – an independent group that represents officers – also refused to be interviewed, but sent an email pointing out that dogs had killed two people in New Zealand recently.

Unfortunate need to taser

At the heart of the debate is the police’s official Taser policy, which guides officers on what they can and can’t do with the electric shock device.

Few critics begrudge the police’s reasoning for using a Taser when an animal is attacking, with most seeing it as an unfortunate necessity in some situations.

However, the SPCA and SAFE – another animal rights group – both argue that there are other ways to de-escalate situations involving dogs, and say frontline officers may not have the proper training for this.

While they accept that Tasers use may be justified in some scenarios, both groups felt the current Taser policy was inadequate when it came to animals.

The police have already made changes to it once, back in 2017, following an incident a year earlier where a police officer shot a Taser at a goat 13 times.

The animal was on the loose and had evaded animal control, nearly causing a crash on the road, and leaving a police officer scrambling to capture it. He eventually cornered the animal and shocked it repeatedly.

The goat had to be euthanised and several investigations followed, with the local superintendent eventually accepting it “could have been handled differently”.

In the end, the policy was changed to say a Taser could only be used on an animal if it was “attacking”.

But it has never been updated to include aftercare for animals.

No specific guidance on tasering animals

In their statement, police confirmed they have no specific guidance on the subject, but said they were open to the discussion.

“We are always willing to consider our approach and take advice from qualified professionals around our policies in general,” a spokesperson said.

However, the SPCA said it has already been offering this kind of advice for six years.

Dale says she first approached the Ministry of Justice, which oversees the police, in 2018.

She has continued to call for change in the years since, arguing that dogs should receive the same level of treatment given to humans who have been Tasered, including urgent access to medical care.

“We have offered the Ministry of Justice expert support in lots of different ways, including sitting on the Taser review panel when there are animal cases,” she added.

These offers remain standing today – and are yet to be taken up by police.

Animal rights group SAFE also believes the current provisions aren’t good enough.

SAFE’s Head of Investigations Will Appelbe said there was only one sentence in the 29-page policy document detailing processes for animals.

“There is detail in that policy document about where on a human body a Taser should be used. There is none of that of detail in regards to how a Taser should be used on an animal. That raises a number of red flags,” he said.

“It’s not clear to be me that police, or frontline police, have been given that sort of training in the same way they’ve been given training for how to handle human beings that are violent.”

Again, 1News requested an interview with police to discuss the issues further but this was declined.

In a second statement, police stressed that officers have a lot to deal with on the job.

“Incidents involving attacking animals are usually incredibly fast-paced and require split-second decisions, meaning most alternate methods for bringing animals under control are impracticable,” it said.