Councillor calls for stricter enforcement after two dog attacks at Wellington park

Monday, 28 May 2018

Unrestrained dogs are a concern for Wellington mountain bikers and runners. (File photo)

A Wellington city councillor wants greater enforcement of dog restraining rules, after witnessing two incidents involving unleashed dogs in a single day.

Simon Woolf said the incidents took place while he was walking in Karori's Wright's Hill reserve on Sunday, in an area where dogs are meant to be restrained.

Woolf said a dog ran aggressively towards him, but was controlled by its owner. Minutes later, he saw two other dogs attack another park user.

Wellington City Councillor Simon Woolf said about 30 people have shared stories of attacks or near misses with unrestrained dogs since he posted about Sunday's incidents on Facebook. (File photo)

'I heard all this screaming and there was a runner being attacked by two dogs.'

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It appeared a small, white dog had chased the runner. A border collie followed and aggressively chased the runner as well, he said.

'When I saw this going on, I yelled at the woman to get them on a leash. The runner just kept running, and lucky they did.'

Woolf said the attack was awful to witness.

He posted about the incident on Facebook and received about 30 responses either online, email or in person about others' near-misses or attacks from unleashed dogs.

Woolf contacted council staff on Monday morning.

His main concern was safety, both for people and dogs alike. There needed to be stricter enforcement when it came to making sure dogs were restrained where they were supposed to be, he said.

'I'm going to put some pressure on our [park] rangers to see if we can put some work in to this.'

A Wellington mountain biker, who did not want to be named, said he rode in the Makara Peak reserve many times a week, and 'every time' he saw unrestrained dogs.

'They take the rules as a big joke. I frequently ask them to put their dogs on a lead and they laugh and continue doing what they are doing.'

The cyclist claimed he had been attacked by aggressive dogs twice – at Mt Victoria and Makara Peak.

The council needed to display signs at park entrances to enforce the rules around dogs on leads, and enforce them by fining repeat offenders, he said.

City council records show there were 69 dog attacks on people and 53 attacks on animals between July 2017 and April 2018, up from 44 and 59 attacks respectively during the 12 months previous.

Council spokeswoman Victoria Barton-Chapple said in order to enforce the rules in 'on leash' areas, an animal services team member needed to witness the rule being broken.

The first step was to educate the owner about the rules, then give them a formal warning if sighted again. An infringement was issued if the rules were witnessed being broken a third time, Barton-Chapple said.

'Ultimately, prosecution is possible if the owner continues to offend. However, this requires a high level of evidence gathering, which can be difficult unless the owner just happens to repeat the offence at the same time and place every day.'

Wellington has nearly 60 exercise areas in parks and beaches, as well as many other park and recreation areas that are not off-leash areas, she said.

'It is not practical to visit all of them each day or have an officer in site for hours on end. We can respond to complaints to our contact centre.'

The council had not received a complaint about a dog attack at the Wright's Hill reserve on Sunday, but if it did then it would be investigated, Barton-Chapple said.