Man pays $4000 to get dog back
A Marlborough man has paid nearly $4000 to get his dog back from the pound, where it spent the last eight months for biting a police officer.
Doug Hilliard’s staffordshire terrier/rottweiler cross, Brock, was seized by the Marlborough District Council after the incident in July.
Hilliard was last week discharged without conviction on a charge of owning a dog that caused injury, under the condition that he pay the pound fees to have the dog released.
He picked up Brock on Friday at a cost of $15.30 for each day he was kept there, totalling $3819.
The judge also made an order that Brock not be put down, as doing so would be unwarranted.
Hilliard said he was rapt with the decision of the judge, but was frustrated the process had taken so long, and at such a cost to himself.
‘‘I was really unhappy about having to pay it but the reality is the judge made it a condition for discharge.’’
He thought Brock had been kept in the pound for longer than was necessary because the council had been difficult to communicate with.
‘‘The frustration for me was, it’s just impossible to communicate with this council,’’ Hilliard said.
‘‘I wanted the opportunity to dispute with the council and they provided no opportunity to do that.’’
During the time Brock was in the pound, other dogs came and went within days for doing similar things, he said.
‘‘I got no explanation as to why my dog had to stay.’’
Council compliance manager Gina Ferguson said Brock was impounded in accordance with the Dog Control Act, which required an animal to be impounded where there was an issue of public safety.
‘‘This dog attacked a police officer and a guilty plea was made by the dog owner,’’ she said.
The length of time the case took to be heard was a matter for the justice system, but Hilliard was told he could contact the council’s legal adviser at any time for an update on its progress, she said.
‘‘The judge in this case specifically noted that council had acted entirely appropriately in bringing the charge to court,’’ she said.
In making the decision not to have Brock put down, Judge Tony Zohrab said it had been a highly charged situation where police had arrived, quite rightly, at the property unannounced. The reason for their being at the property was suppressed. Hilliard had been in touch with a dog trainer in Motueka, who would be doing some work with Brock.