No closure on missing dogs
A family won’t get the opportunity to find out for sure what happened to their dogs after they went missing in Invercargill.
Lyn Ballantyne has been left devastated after she believes two dogs she was looking after, who she described as lovable and well-cared-for, were shot dead.
The family had no closure and wanted confirmation from dog control or police about what has happened to them, she said.
Invercargill City Council director of environmental and planning services Pamela Gare said the council had ‘‘taken all reasonable steps within our power’’ to find answers for the family.
A farmer had reported to Invercargill Police that he had found two dogs on his property killing his chickens on June 28, then shot both dogs dead and photographed them, Gare said.
Police recommended that he report the incident to Animal Services, she said.
Under the Dog Control Act 1996, ‘‘the owner of any stock or poultry or that owner’s agent or employee, or any constable, dog control officer, or dog ranger acting at the request of that owner, may forthwith either seize or destroy any dog running at large among that stock or poultry’’.
The Act also states: ‘‘where a dog is seized by any person other than a dog control officer or dog ranger, that person shall ensure that the dog is returned to its owner or delivered into the custody of a dog control officer or dog ranger’’. But since the dogs were destroyed, rather than seized, this does not apply.
In a letter to Ballantyne on July 9, Gare said the rural property owner who shot two dogs showed photos to dog control staff but did not leave any identification or allow the dogs be microchip scanned to confirm who their owners were.
After several attempts to call the farmer went unanswered, the letter continued to say: ‘‘I am afraid I am unable to process your missing dog report any further. I think we can only assume that the two dogs shot by the farmer are the two dogs that went missing from your property.’’
Gare says in the letter she would get back to Ballantyne if she was to received any further information.
On July 25, Gare said the farmer was within his rights to destroy the dogs and the council did not have any legislative powers to enter his property, or to require him to hand over the dead dogs, or the photographs.
Ballantyne said it was hard to believe the two 8-month-old two staffordshire bull terrier (staffy) dogs would attack chickens, especially as they were around her own chickens on her lifestyle block.
She just wants answers.
The dogs, LG (aka Little Girl) – who was her son David Bevin’s dog, and Willow – who was owned by her exdaughter-in-law Lesley Yates, were in her yard playing on the day they went missing.
After hearing of two dogs being shot in the area, the family was devastated.
If it was them, she wanted to have them buried at their own property, Ballantyne said. ‘‘All I want is a yes or no, because when do I stop looking?
‘‘It’s been devastating not to have an answer.’’