A dog in an Auckland Council animal shelter is so aggressive it has bitten off the tip of a staff member’s finger – and has to be sedated with a blow dart so it can be moved between kennels.
By Torika Tokalau of Local Democracy Reporting
Animal management staff are facing increasing threats from aggressive dogs and their owners in Auckland, with the latest figures revealing that abuse has more than doubled from the previous year.
Auckland Council head of animal management Ellie Waitoa said having to deal with a dog by sedating it should give people a fair idea of how aggressive some dogs could be.
"We're dealing with some pretty gnarly behaviours, unfortunately."
The dog seriously attacked one of its owners, but they still want it back.
Thirty-three new kennels were being built at the Manukau Animal Shelter, and an extra 14 kennels were being built at the same shelter to hold dangerous and high-risk dogs.
"Some of these dogs are so aggressive ... we can't risk handling them."
The report also highlighted an increase in staff exposure to high levels of violence and aggression while carrying out their duties in the community.
In the past year, 759 incidents were recorded in the council's health and safety management system, up by two-thirds from the previous year.
Of these, eight cases were classified as high-risk.
A total of 291 incidents involved violent or aggressive behaviour from members of the public towards staff, representing a 112% increase from the previous year.
The three most commonly reported risk categories were violent and aggressive behaviour from people, animal aggression and movement, and psychosocial risk.
"People are very, and understandably so, attached to their dogs and it's not a nice situation to be [in] when council have to impound your dog and hold it potentially.
"But it does not excuse the behaviours that stem from that. We've had staff that have been assaulted, physically threatened, [there's been] threats against the shelter.
"We have security at the shelters because we've had people try to break in, it's typically just really appalling behaviour."
Waitoa said desexing the animals would help minimise a lot of the issues, including the uncontrolled dog population.
"The officers are all animal lovers, despite what may be posted on social media. You look at those shelter staff: they're cleaning, picking up poo, feeding, providing medical attention, exercising, providing enrichment for the dogs and their care each year.
"You wouldn't do that if you didn't love dogs. So it's kind of a misdirected anger, whereas owners should be really focused on the people who've let these dogs down in the first place and let the public down."
Local Democracy Reporting is local-body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
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