Isn't it funny how people always back down after the media is involved. It has nothing to do with doing the right thing or admitting a mistake. It is all to do with what is more beneficial to them. Bad media representation is bad for business. Since coucils are all about making money, they pull the ejection lever. I wouldn't trust any council as far as I could throw them. I wonder how I developed that opinion?

Mikenz, firstly mike can you tell me where in NZ law it stats that all rotti x puppies have to be put down???? NO WHERE.. Look hey understand they have a job to do but their PR has been compromised too many times down here and when something like this happens it just makes it worse. Their job would be handled so much better if they could show some empathy towards the work they do. instead of letting the CONTROL part of the job go to their heads.

MikenZ, You miss the point. The law isn't always correct. Ask Mr Thomas or Bain,and a few others. You have no doubt researched the ICC Animal Control and realised that there have been many complaints about them and some of these complaints have been upheld. You would also know that my daughter was mollested and the cops, courts let the guy off on a technicality. So naturally this has happened to you and you still say the law is correct. Time you did a bit of research before opening you trap!

I somewhat agree with Mike. The dog was unregistered therefore it should have been handed to the pound. It is only fortune that the owner Ms Cairns claimed the dog and the fine was waived. If people stopped being so irresponsible with their animals and obey the law then good samaritans like the Hedges wouldn't be held accountable simply for putting animals welfare first.

Vito, no I wasn't a bully at school. I was the one of the ones that stood up to the bullies but thanks for the incorrect assumption anyway.

On the topic of what you like and don't like re: law enforcement, you do care mate. You care when your fence is tagged, your house is burgled, your daughter is raped or your dog is stolen- if you really don't care about the law then either you're a lier or just plain stupid.

MikenZ, bet you were a bully at school as well. I don't like cops, judges and people like you who say the law is always correct. Wait till you have been burnt.

Hey Sam, first up, I don't live in Southland but, if the attitude of yourself and the locals shown in this case is a reflection of the general publics attitude to law and dog control in Invercargill, then best I stay where I am eh.

Secondly, just because you have a perceived opinion regarding your local Animal Control officer/s does not give you or anyone else the right to take the law into your own hands.

Yes, Animal Control officers exist to keep the general population of dogs down but they do so by following law, law that has been written and passed by who ever holds the office of Central Government. Those people have been given the mandate by the majority of the population of New Zealand via this thing every three years called an election.

If you want to see what happens to the local dog population when there is no Animal Control function, look at any major third world city slum such as Mumbai, Mogadishu, the Kaibera slum in Nairobi etc. Packs of stray dogs roam at will, carrying off pets, livestock and children at times. We have even seen this recently in NZ in Murupara where a woman was killed by a pack of roaming dogs.

Should your dog go into a pound and never return then it is completely and solely your responsibility, no body else's. There are many checks and balances during the process of impounding to ensure you have been given every reasonable option to get your dog back home.

Responsibility, it's what every person in this life has whether they accept it or not, how about you step up and take some.

Hey Mike NZ, maybe if you guys worked at your PR, and your animal ethics, then people would have no problem handing them over. The public in Invercargill are sick of your culling attitude towards dogs and i don't blame her for not wanting to hand it over. what so you could lesson the number of dogs in Invercargill and shoot it. It is the attitude of animal control officers one in particular that has subjected you to this sort of behaviour. About time you started showing some empathy towards these people and animals....

Bet she would have sung a completely different tune if it was HER dog that went missing, was picked up by persons unknown, Animal Control went there, asked for custody of the dog and were told no and then did what she claims they should have done in this case, turned around and just left it there.

This woman was required by law to give the dog into the care and custody of Animal Control because 1, it wasn't her property- 2, it was unregistered and 3, she is required by law to hand the dog over when requested if she is not the lawful owner.

She was asked to give them the dog- she refused. She was then instructed to give them the dog- she refused. This woman was then issued a fine for obstructing Animal Control from doing the job they are paid by dog registration to do. The fact this woman then went screaming to the media when she didn't get her own way speaks volumes about the type of person the Animal control Officers were dealing with. Would she have refused to hand over the dog if it was a scungy pitbull and worth nothing rather than a $1500 designer dog?.. I somehow doubt it.

What gives anyone the right to hold on to property that they know doesn't belong to them? Especially when the agency empowered by LAW to take custody of that property and see it returned to its rightful owner is standing in front of them asking for it. By right she was lucky she wasn't arrested for theft.

The only two people in the wrong here is the woman who refused to hand the dog over and the spineless Mr Watt who should have backed the judgment of his own staff instead of hanging them out to dry in front of the nations media.