Higher ratio of impounded dogs killed in Hamilton over Auckland

Saturday, 27 January 2018

Auckland may have a bad track record for killing impounded dogs, but Hamilton is worse.

Hamilton put down 37.4 per cent of dogs, or 464 of 1420, in the care of its city council in the year ending July 31, 2017.

Hamilton City Council animal control manager Susan Stanford blamed it on Hamilton dog owners not collecting their pets.

'The No 1 factor is dog owners who don't come looking for their unregistered/un-microchipped dogs,' she said.

**READ MORE:

* Close to 3000 dogs put down by Auckland Council last year

* Captive bolt gun 'acceptable' way to euthanise dogs, MPI says

* Waikato pounds can put any dog down, but how do they decide?**

The council does not rehome dogs classified as menacing. However, if owners collect them within about two weeks, they are allowed to take them home.

A menacing dog is classified in two ways: behaviour and breed. Behaviour was when a dog has shown aggression towards people or animals, and breed was defined in the Dog Control Act 1996.  The act lists brazilian fila, dogo argentino, japanese tosa, perro de presa canario and american pit bull terriers as menacing dogs, with the proviso that territorial authorities could also classify other breeds as menacing.

Auckland Council euthanased 33.8 per cent, or 2846, of the dogs it picked up in the year ending June 30, 2017.

The council actively sought to rehome animals, Auckland Council animal management manager Nikki Marchant-Ludlow said.

'We will hold dogs for as long as we need to find them a suitable home. One hundred per cent of adoptable dogs are adopted through our shelters,' Marchant-Ludlow said.

On the opposite end of the spectrum was South Wairarapa District Council, which oversees the towns of Martinborough, Featherston and Greytown. It euthanased 12.1 per cent, or eight of its 66 impounded dogs, in the year to June 30. 

The reason for the low number was due to a focus on returning animals to owners, environmental services manager Shane Sykes said.

'We believe that this helps educate people regarding responsible dog ownership, rather than euthanasing the animal and having the owner repeat the same problem behaviour in the future, which would likely require another dog to be euthanased.'

The high numbers of dogs being put down was a national disgrace, animal welfare advocate group Watchdog! chairwoman, Jessica Maxwell said.

The Ministry for Primary Industries' inability to provide tangible guidelines, instead allowing councils a freestyle approach, was the main issue, she said.

'Each council sort of makes up its own rules and sad to say, there are a lot of councils whose senior managers seem to lack empathy for dogs and they take a hard line.'

Maxwell, who lives in Hawke's Bay, got her dog Charlie six years ago from a local breeder - but wishes she had adopted from a pound.

'It's such a rewarding process because the dogs get a second chance at life and the benefits are huge for the owners.'

Craig Dunn, the co-founder of animal welfare advocacy group Paw Justice, said the councils with high rates were profiting from killing animals.

An unregistered dog taken to a pound was 'straight off' given an impound fee. Each time dogs were picked up by the council the impound fee increased, he said.

This was in addition to a sustenance fee, which allowed for food and a staff member to walk the dog, on top of the registration fine.

If owners could not afford to pay the registration fine, their dog could be euthanised and they could still be liable to pay up to $300, he said.

'Dog owners are just used as a cash cow … It's about profit.'