Doorstep drop angers dog owner

BY ESTHER LAUAKI - KAPI-MANA NEWS

A morbid delivery by a fed-up farmer has left a Porirua dog owner outraged.

Whitby resident Steven Head dropped five animal carcasses on the driveway of a Waitangirua house after his flock was attacked by three dogs recently.

Mr Head was adamant it was the third attack by the trio of canines, belonging to the owner of the house he visited, and he wanted them put down.

"It's a recurring problem ...They're well known to the ranger. Maybe this might stir him up."

When Kapi-Mana News arrived at the house, at least 30 children from nearby Tairangi School had gathered across the road, shouting and pointing at the spectacle.

"I know it's not a nice thing for me to do but somebody had to take action. What am I supposed to do? Leave them for my kids to look at and clean up?" Mr Head says.

He says the owners of the suspected culprits he spoke to were very apologetic and admitted the dogs had killed some of their own goats before.

A relative of the dog owners, who asked not to be named, was furious with what Mr Head had done.

"When we talked to him we said we're really sorry, and if it was our dogs, we would have them put down. But you don't come and do this. We've got kids in the house."

He says they offered to remove the carcasses of the sheep from Mr Head's property.

On October 20, neighbours alerted Mr Head to two german shepherds and a mastiff cross on his property.

"This time they were caught in the act. The [dog] that I left on the doorstep was one of the dogs that was left behind on my property so I shot it."

Under the law, farmers are allowed to kill dogs only if they are in the act of attacking livestock. Four sheep were ravaged in the attack and all were family pets, Mr Head said.

"We live in a small lifestyle block so, you know, all these lambs have names and our kids are quite attached to them."

Porirua City Council's environmental standards manager Jim Sutton says no complaints had been laid about sheep attacks in Whitby since December last year.

He says there was no proof to link the three dogs to any other attacks in the area but they were seen on the property when last Wednesday's incident occurred.

The dog owners laid a police complaint against Mr Head for trespassing and have handed the dogs over to be put down.