An Auckland councillor has struck out at “useless dog owners” as the number of animals euthanised at its shelters increases.
The city’s dog shelters are overflowing as Auckland faces a jump in the number of animals being taken in.
Every year, thousands of dogs have to be put down, with 2615 euthanised last year and 1660 at the Manukau shelter alone.
It comes as Auckland sees a 5.4% increase in known dogs across the city compared to last year, now over 130,000.
Speaking to Breakfast this morning, Auckland Council Animal Management’s Elly Waitoa said the increase in dogs can be attributed to the Covid-19 lockdowns.
“They were at home and decided it was a good time to have a dog,” she said.
But when the lockdowns ended, the council started seeing problems.
“Now that they’re going back to work, we’re seeing more issues with dogs out roaming and causing nuisance,” Waitoa said.
“Around 80% of the dogs that come through our three shelters are actually picked up for roaming or aggressive related incidents.”
Waitoa said around 6600 dogs came through shelters last year, estimating that nearly 30% end up unclaimed by their owners and too dangerous to be rehomed.
When a dog is taken into a shelter, the council give owners a minimum of seven days to collect them. If they don’t, the animal undergoes a temperament test - and if it’s too aggressive and can’t be rehomed, staff are forced to put it down.
She said it was “incredibly sad” to have to do this, as many shelter staff are dog lovers - and are often abused for their work.
“All of our staff that work across the shelters are absolute dog lovers. You couldn’t do this job if you didn’t love dogs,” Waitoa said.
Auckland councillor Daniel Newman took aim at “useless dog owners”, saying the growing dog population is an “enormous problem”.
“It's the outcome of people not being responsible, taking account of the dogs that are out there.”
He said that while it’s an “unpleasant role,” it is a “necessary function” and supports the animal management staff on the ground.
“Council has an obligation, and I support our frontline staff to do this work.”
Newman said owners should be working to look after their dogs properly so they don’t pose a risk to residents.
“They fight for the welfare of their animals. Euthanising dogs is terrible, but we can’t have dangerous dogs roaming our community.
“Posing a risk to other animals, posing a risk to residents.”
“We can’t have that.”
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