Pet-loving campers upset by council's no-dogs bylaw

DAVID HALLETT/ The Press

HOLIDAY SETBACK: Campers Sue Nevin and Ned Moir are unhappy over a ban on their pets at the Amberley Beach Camp.

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Dog-loving campers at the Amberley Beach Camp say their holiday has been ruined by council enforcement of a little-known bylaw.

For 14 years Christchurch couple Ned and Jean Moir have stayed at the Hurunui District Council-owned North Canterbury camping ground with their dogs.

The couple have a toy poodle and a chihuahua.

This holiday, for the first time, they were told their dogs were not allowed.

Fellow camper Sue Nevin, of Kaiapoi, said she rang the council in November to check whether dogs were welcome at the ground and was told they were allowed.

As a result, Nevin and her husband, Jim, chose the Amberley Beach Camp for their first camping holiday in their new caravan.

But when they arrived on Christmas Eve, campers told them a dog-control officer had visited the ground and that they had been given 24 hours notice to remove their dogs.

As Nevin had been told dogs were welcome, the couple decided to stay.

However, they had kept their maltese and maltese chihuahua in the caravan.

"Trying to keep two little dogs inside in 35 degrees ... that's not a holiday. We want to know where we stand. I was told it was fine [to have dogs]."

Ned Moir said there was a sign at the north side of the camp saying "no dogs".

However, he and others who had visited the camp regularly believed the south side was for those campers with pets.

Camper Bob Burgess said he was planning to stay at Amberley Beach this year, but decided not to after hearing about the no-dogs policy from friends.

"All our children are gone; the only thing we've got now is our dog," he said.

"He is blind and getting to his last days.

"There is no way I'm going to go and enjoy myself and have him locked up."

Hurunui District Council environmental services manager Andrew Feierabend said dogs were prohibited at the camping ground.

He said they had been banned since at least 2008, when the council's dog-control policy was reviewed.

Feierabend said the policy had not been enforced because there had not been any complaints.

However, the council's dog control officer had received several complaints about dogs at the camping ground during the latest holiday period, he said.

"I'm not aware of complaints down there in previous years," he said.

Feierabend said campers were given a day to take their dogs home. He conceded there could be confusion if there was a sign in just one area, and more signs would be erected.

The dog-control policy was reviewed every three years.

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