Rise in roaming dogs in Rotorua Lakes district sparks fear among livestock owners and warning by local council

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More than 220 dog attacks on people or animals, and dogs rushing at them, have been reported to the Rotorua Lakes Council since July.

In the same five-month period, there were nearly 700 complaints about roaming dogs, sparking fears from “traumatised” livestock owners in rural Tikitere that the killer dogs that savaged their sheep in May and June this year might attack again.

This compared to 546 reported attacks on people or animals and dogs rushing in the 12 months to June 30, 2023, up from 429 the previous year.

Only one of the reported attacks in the 2022/23 year led to a dog owner being prosecuted and no prosecutions have taken place so far this year, according to the Rotorua Lakes Council.

However, since July 1 this year, the council has issued 100 animal control infringement notices and disqualified 16 dog owners for various offences.

Anxious and “traumatised” livestock owners in Tikitere say they remain on “ high alert” fearing attack dogs could return in the dead of night.

Retired Rotorua doctor John Armstrong earlier told the Rotorua Daily Post that a dog mauled “one of his best sheep” in June and because the ewe was pregnant with twins, he had effectively lost three sheep.

Armstrong said he had placed his ewes well away from the road and closer to his neighbour’s property but woke on June 10 to find “a scene of carnage”.

Six months on, Armstrong said he was still “traumatised” from the attacks and he had installed game motion-sensor cameras along his fence line.

“There is still an ongoing nervousness and fear about any roaming dogs at night time.”

Armstrong said despite his and other residents’ exhaustive efforts, including staying up at night with spotlights and regularly checking his sheep the dogs were never found.

“My greatest fear is the next time it could be a child who is attacked and killed,” he said.

Also in May and June, Tikitere resident Carl Hoffmann lost one of his beloved pet sheep after a dog ripped its throat out. Two pigs were also savaged.

Hoffmann’s neighbour Linda Vercoe also lost five sheep as a result of a night-time attack by two dogs in June.

Another livestock owner in the same area recently told the Rotorua Daily Post that he also lost several sheep in similar attacks around the same time.

The resident, who asked not to be named, said after a neighbour alerted him, he found one sheep dead, four others had to be put down and five were treated by a vet at a cost of $900.

The resident said the attacks were “traumatising” and it was “just fortunate” his children had not seen the attacks or the “horrific aftermath”.

“The owners of these dogs must have known about the attacks when their dogs came home with blood around their mouths … Dog owners need to think hard about the trauma and damage these attacks cause and keep their dogs shut in at night.”

Rotorua Lakes Council’s community and regulatory manager Kurt Williams said the council’s animal services team undertook a “comprehensive investigation” into these sheep attacks and worked closely with the local community, who were all “on high alert” to try and locate the dogs responsible.

He said the search for the dogs included staff doing regular patrols, using bait traps and attempting to match DNA swabs from the bite wounds on the mauled sheep with known dogs in the area.

“We even had our local roading crews on dog watch to try and help us.

“However, despite everyone’s best efforts, these dogs were never found. Fortunately, there have been no further attacks,” he said.

Williams said roaming dogs was a significant problem and could lead to rushing or attacks on people or other animals.

“We are asking dog owners to ensure their dogs are secure on their property at all times, and under control when out in public even in dog exercise parks.”

He said serious breaches of the Dog Control Act could result in the owner being prosecuted and/or disqualified from owning a dog.

According to the council’s Annual Dog Control Reports, dog-related complaints in the Rotorua Lakes district rose from 5325 in 2021/2022 to 5855 in 2022/2023.

Williams said the council had recently increased the animal control team from eight to nine giving greater capacity to prosecute more owners for serious Dog Control Act breaches.

He said there were currently 9987 registered dogs in the Rotorua Lakes area with 17 classified as dangerous and 437 as menacing.

Dogs classified as menacing must be on a leash and muzzled “at all times” in public areas, he said.

Anyone seeing roaming dogs was urged to call the council immediately providing as much detail as possible and photographs if was safe to take them.

Sandra Conchie is a senior journalist at the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post who has been a journalist for 24 years. She mainly covers police, court and other justice stories, as well as general news. She has been a Canon Media Awards regional/community reporter of the year.