Mass dog killing 'horrific and cruel' (graphic content)

BY DELWYN DICKEY

Police and the SPCA are investigating the shooting of 10 dogs and 22 puppies at a rural Wellsford property Monday evening.

The shooting left dogs and puppies dead in and around a collection of sheds and cages on the property.

The dogs' owner, who only wants to be known as Rowan, says he had been told two of his dogs had been identified as mauling a neighbour's family pet fox terrier, which subsequently died.

He agreed to destroy the two dogs that matched the description of the offending dogs and shot them on his property "away from the other dogs and humanely", he says.

He acknowledged he had given permission for the remaining adult animals to be destroyed as well, but it is the manner in which the animals were killed, along with puppies, that Rowan says were not part of the agreement. That has upset him and others.

It was "horrific and cruel", he says.

Friend and business partner Richard Hawkings says he was at the property with Rowan when two men, one who he describes as a hunter, came on to the property to shoot the adult dogs.

But rather than taking the dogs out separately and shooting them away from the others, the man randomly started shooting the dogs with a .22 rifle, says Mr Hawkings.

There were seven dogs in one large cage and they started shooting at the dogs through the wire, he says.

The dogs were screaming, some trying to hide and others with skin coming off as they tried to climb through the wire, he says.

"I was in tears yelling at them to stop," says Mr Hawkings.

Mr Hawkings says a shotgun was then used, and both men started shooting puppies which were running free.

While he was able to hide six of the puppies, 22 others - including some as young as three weeks old - were killed, Mr Hawkings says.

"If I'd known they were going to do this I would never have agreed to it, or at least I would have done it humanely myself."

None of the dogs on the property were registered, says Rodney District Council communications manager David Anderson. He understands there had been complaints from neighbours about dogs worrying sheep in the area.

An inspector was sent to investigate, SPCA Auckland chief executive officer Garth Halliday says. He believes about 34 dogs were shot, several taken for post-mortem examination. Inspectors are talking to two people, says Mr Halliday. He understands police may be considering firearms charges.

- © Fairfax NZ News