A young girl’s plea after dog attacks
A young girl’s devastating loss of her pet sheep to a dog attack has prompted her to start a petition to the Government.
A one-eyed cat, a rescued chicken and a fox terrier are just some of the members of the Moeke family’s farm, tucked into a rural corner near Waimarama beach, 28 kilometres from Havelock North.
Buster the ram was part of that family for two years, only for his life to be cut short in May after a dog attack. The pet is now buried in the paddock next to the Moeke household, beneath a cairn of stones hand-painted by 9-year-old Awatea Moeke.
Awatea said she wanted dog owners to take more responsibility . ‘‘I want the owner to be changed to a nice owner and not let their dogs do bad things. They should only be put to sleep if they keep doing really bad things,’’ she said.
Her father, John Moeke, said they were in the ‘‘very early stages’’ of petitioning and were planning to speak to local rural groups and schools.
‘‘We’re hoping to get at least 10,000 signatures, with Awatea presenting it to Parliament before Christmas,’’ he said.
Stock on surrounding properties were attacked again by the same dogs on September 8. The dogs were seized and investigations are under way. Moeke said a total of 16 sheep had been killed in Waimarama.
Hastings District Council regulatory solutions manager John Payne said the dogs were originally released back to the owners after the May attacks due to ‘‘evaluating factors’’.
Those included ‘‘the seriousness of the offence, the legislative intent, the classification of the dog, the impact on the victim, the actions of the offending dog owner (before and after the incident), observed behaviour of the dog, the degree of negligence, co-operation of the owner, previous history’’ and more.
‘‘We concluded it didn’t warrant prosecution . . . in our experience sometimes an infringement fine is greater than a court-imposed fine.’’
Hawke’s Bay Federated Farmers president Jim Galloway said he didn’t feel councils were taking dog attacks seriously and it was a ‘‘national problem’’.
‘‘They happen all over the place. I was affected, before I moved to Hawke’s Bay, a dog attacked eight of our calves. My father, who lives in the Bay of Plenty, had his cows attacked.
‘‘I can’t imagine what it would be like for a child to have her pet mauled – it would be shocking.’’