A growing number of calls is forcing the Tararua District Council to find a third animal control officer.
"We are making some reductions in dealing with charging and rushing dogs, but we're not keeping up with the number of callouts to animal control, so we're having to beef up our resources," the council's chief executive, Blair King, said.
Craig Lunn, manager of regulatory services for council, told Wednesday's monthly meeting that education was the key to getting dog owners to do the right thing. Mr King agreed.
"The more we can get owners to comply the better," he said.
Currently the council employs two animal control officers (ACOs), with a 24-hour dog ranger service provided using a contracted security firm outside normal working hours. The dog pounds in Dannevirke and Pahiatua are managed by the ACOs during normal working hours and outside those dogs are fed by a security firm which also cleans both pounds.
