Heartbreak and hope as the Herald spends a morning with two of Auckland Council’s animal management officers. Video / Michael Craig
Dog attacks and roaming incidents in Auckland have risen dramatically in the year to June 30.
Almost half of the 8306 dogs impounded in Auckland in the last year were euthanised. That’s up 48% on the previous year.
Most dog owners are responsible but a stubborn 16% - and rising - of the city’s 135,546 dog population is unregistered.
She has no known name, this recent mum to puppies of undetermined fate, as she wanders into a South Auckland school, a length of wire wound tightly around her injured neck and a heavy chain dragging below.
Dog attacks were already up 17% to 2846 in the year to June 30, according to the council’s animal management report released publicly this week.
“There were 155 more attacks on people and 254 more attacks on other animals reported this year … higher than forecast, mostly due to the significant increase in roaming dogs”, author Christo van der Merwe writes in the executive summary, which reports further worrying increases in welfare-related complaints and aggressive behaviour incidents.
But while there have been plenty of tense and challenging situations with aggressive dogs, around half those they encounter pose no immediate threat, albeit helped along by the pouches of kibble he and workmate Richard Hall keep in their pockets, animal management officer Carlo Maligsay said as the Herald joined the pair on duty late last month.
Whiskas is also a favourite, Maligsay says.
“Something about cat food, eh?”
Among them, is the bedraggled creature that’s drifted into sight of the kind souls at Bairds Mainfreight Primary School recently.
Auckland Council animal management officer Richard Hall takes a wire collar and chain off a female dog found wandering at Bairds Mainfreight School late last month. / Michael Craig
An animal management dispatcher alerts Maligsay and Hall to the school’s “very skinny” visitor, who has no collar, tag or microchip to identify her.
“Oh, the doggy?”, school PA Valerie McKee says, after Maligsay introduces himself at the Ōtara school’s reception.
Auckland Council animal management officer Richard Hall with a makeshift wire collar, lock and chain found on the roaming dog at Bairds Mainfreight School. Photo / Michael Craig
She points to a fenced courtyard, where Hall will soon carefully remove the wire and chain.
“This is no good”, the 34-year-old says softly to the docile animal now standing quietly by his side.
“Let’s get this collar off.”
Later, when she’s secured in the truck’s cage, he pokes treats through the gap.
“That’s a good girl, eh? Special girl.”
The female dog picked up by Auckland Council animal management officers after being found roaming at Bairds Mainfreight School responded to treats, but shied away from making eye contact. Photo / Michael Craig
Their principal managed to capture the stray after it was spotted outside reception, McKee says.
“We’ve given her a couple of bowls of cereal and some liver chips and water. She’s actually friendly if you drop down to her level and pat her.
“That chain, and that wire, it just does my head in. Our school are all dog lovers.”
Alongside a human population of 1.7 million, there were 135,546 dogs in Auckland as of June 30, up 2.8% - or 3751 dogs - on the year before.
Most have responsible owners, but a stubborn 16% of the known dog population is unregistered, and the registration rate has fallen 4.6% over the last year, according to the animal management annual report.
Registration fees vary based on factors including whether a dog is classed as dangerous, is a working dog or if owners have a Community Services, SuperGold or VeteranGold card.
But Aucklanders with a responsible dog owner licence and no concession cards can expect to pay $162 a year for their desexed, non-working and non-dangerous dog, with the fee for owners in the same situation rising to $213 if their dogs aren’t de-sexed.
Auckland Council animal management officers Carlo Maligsay, left, and Richard Hall, visit a Totara Park property where there have been issues with excessive barking and lack of dog registration. Photo / Michael Craig
It’s failure to pay that contribution towards the management of the city’s canine population that occupies Maligsay and Hall’s first job this morning.
The owners previously had four of five dogs seized because of multiple complaints about barking – one of the few dog control metrics to fall, albeit barely, across the city in the last year.
Just under 6600 complaints about nuisance barking were made, down a per cent, with 54 abatement notices issued.
This household has its dogs back after meeting noise abatement notice conditions, with today’s visit to make sure a fifth dog is registered after the owner didn’t respond to multiple attempts to contact them, Maligsay says.
The pair’s arrival at the Goodwood Heights home in Totara Park isn’t welcomed - one of the owners is still upset his dog lost a tooth during the officers’ last visit - the incident occurring after the dog became aggressive and bit onto the capture pole being used to capture it.
“So Richard and I normally take ownership in that and just apologise … it’s like a humility sort of stance, because we’re going to be back here again, and we’re going to have to deal with them again.”
Sometimes a good cop/bad cop approach works when dealing with dog owners not meeting their responsibilities, say Auckland Council animal management officers Richard Hall, left, and Carlo Maligsay. Photo / Michael Craig
A second decision to double the seven-day time limit for the owner to register the remaining dog is also about recognising the financial pressure of meeting requirements to get the pets back, and that some had been adopted into the household after other family members moved to Australia, he says.
“But I [also] told him … it’s a luxury having dogs. It’s like owning vehicles, you’ve got to register them, and you’ve got to maintain them.”
The colleagues sometimes take a good cop/bad cop approach, with roles switching based on who has a better rapport with a dog’s owner, Maligsay says.
Hall spent seven years as a prison guard before moving to probation, and unsurprisingly brings a swag of transferable skills, while Maligsay comes from a civilian role in the police, an organisation the 28-year-old still holds an interest in returning to in uniform one day.
Both also have dogs of their own, Hall a golden retriever/Labrador X named Baiely and Maligsay a Rottweiler X named Khaos, he says.
“We get people on their bad days. We’re not counsellors but we just let them vent and listen to them – we get it, life’s tough.
“But we also have to bring it back to the topic of, ‘Look we’ve got to do our job here’.”
A woman has seen two dogs, one a possible Pitbull X, roaming opposite Hampton Park in East Tāmaki, the dog control dispatcher says.
Hall calls the woman for more details, before saying she’ll be contacted again for a more thorough statement if the dogs - and their owners - are found.
She sounds worried.
“My details wouldn’t be passed on to them or anything?”
Hall assures her both informant and owner details are kept private from each other.
We make our way around the park and surrounding streets, Maligsay doing his best to tap into the wandering canine mind.
“This park, it doesn’t get much sunlight, and with a lot of rain, it’s quite a muddy park. So they may be playing in that. That’s what I’m sort of picturing in my head.
“Or they could be trying to find food because we know there’s a bit of rubbish there as well.”
But the four-legged fugitives prove elusive.
A noisy toy named "Sausage", gifted to him by a colleague, is used by animal management officer Richard Hall while on dog control to check if there are any dogs on a property before entering. Photo / Michael Craig
Some days they’ve had up to a dozen reports of roaming dogs, stretching the team of 10 across the eastern and southern suburbs they cover.
The worst moment is when a roaming dog attacks someone before they can find it, Hall says.
“Some have areas they roam and can become quite territorial. So if there’s other dogs, or people walking their dogs, it’s likely they’ll attack. Roaming dogs can be a huge risk to the public.”
But with no more reports, the pair switch to patrol.
With the sun out and the temperature rising, Maligsay directs Hall to known doggy hangouts.
“Let’s see if they’re sunbathing.”
There are a few strays they know, but haven’t been able to catch – in part because the dogs know them, too, Hall says.
“They recognise the truck … just the sound of the engine, and will immediately start running off. And they know the streets better than you, all the alleyways and the parks.”
A dead cat found on the roadside in suburban Auckland by Auckland Council animal management officers. The officers removed the body for disposal. Photo / Michael Craig
On one street, we come across a dead cat - Hall scoops it up and puts it in a container to dispose of later - but no dogs.
As our dog drought drags the Herald photographer makes a hopeful request.
“I’d like to see at least one dog today.”
And then, as we turn into Garus Ave in Māngere East, there she is, stretched out on the grass in the spring sunshine.
‘Get a real f***en job’
“Hey, buddy”, Maligsay says as he inches out of the patrol vehicle and the dog - wearing a collar but no registration tag - wanders towards him.
“Hi, hi. Oh, good boy”, he says as the Pinscher X munches on treats right out of Maligsay’s hand, tail wagging.
The slip lead drops and the pair’s first catch of the day is loaded into a covered cage fixed to the ute’s tray.
Roaming dogs increase the risk of people, pets and livestock being attacked. Kiki, pictured, had a friendly nature but not all roaming dogs do, Auckland Council animal management officers say. Photo / Michael Craig
A quick scan of the microchip reveals she’s actually a good girl named Kiki, but with no owner details listed the dispatcher taps out to dig deeper while we take the old-fashioned route of driving around the neighbourhood looking for a potential owner.
Outside, a big tom cat with no tail cruises past, and Kiki whines from the back, before the dispatcher returns with an address.
We’re back where we started – Kiki had been sunbathing on the berm outside her own home.
The property is fenced but a gate - sporting a Beware of the Dog sign with a menacing looking creature nothing like chilled-out Kiki - can be seen slightly ajar.
Roaming dog Kiki was easily captured by Auckland Council animal management officer Carlo Maligsay after showing her love for cat biscuits and kibble. Photo / Michael Craig
Auckland Council animal management officer Carlo Maligsay and roaming dog Kiki cross paths with a cat after Kiki's owner is found and she's returned home. Photo / Michael Craig
“A dog needs to be secured on the section, and if we can’t get a hold of the owner or anyone that can secure that dog we have to take it, because it’s a risk.”
But there’s a carrot with that stick - when Kiki’s owner arrives home, the pair offer to only warn him for Kiki’s roaming, giving him a chance to avoid a fine as long as he registers the 3-year-old within seven days, Maligsay says.
“We did him a favour, and now it’s for him to sort of return that favour.”
Kiki faced the consequences of her roaming, with a ride in an Auckland Council animal management patrol truck, but was later handed back to her owner. Photo / Michael Craig
Back on the street, Hall is closing up the truck as a woman driving past yells in our direction.
“Get a real f***en job, you a**holes.”
‘You’ve rescued our little girl’
It’s now Maligsay and Hall begin their final, and saddest, pick-up while on patrol with the Herald.
The dog with no name that melted hearts after wandering into Bairds Mainfreight Primary School is getting into their truck for the short journey to the council’s Manukau dog shelter, one of three council-run shelters across Auckland.
“So, you’ve rescued our little girl”, says McKee, the primary school PA.
A roaming dog found at Bairds Mainfreight School is signed into the Manukau Dog Shelter after being picked up by two Auckland Council animal management officers. Photo / Michael Craig
Life will be better for the dog, who Maligsay and Hall estimate is aged about 3, but it also risks being short.
Forty-six dogs were brought into the Manukau pound the day before, and like them she’ll get shelter, medical care, food and water for at least seven days.
If by then no owner has come forward staff will decide if she can be rehabilitated for potential adoption, or must instead be euthanised.
The latter was the fate of 4007 of the 8306 dogs impounded in Auckland in the year to June 30 (another 455 were adopted or transferred to rescues, with the remainder claimed or returned to their owners).
That’s up 48.2 per cent on the previous year, when 2615 of 6596 impounded dogs were put down.
Almost half the dogs impounded at Auckland Council's three shelters in the year to June 30 were euthanised, a "heartbreaking" situation, says the council's animal management manager Elly Waitoa. Photo / Michael Craig
It’s the somber reality in a city where the 245 kennels across the council’s three dog shelters are “always full”, Auckland Council animal management manager Elly Waitoa says.
“It’s heartbreaking for everybody, and it’s happening too often because of these irresponsible dog owners.”
And while adoption is an option, it’s a happy ending few will enjoy.
“Only 160 [impounded] dogs were adopted last year, and that’s from an [Auckland human] population of 1.7 million. People just don’t adopt from our shelters.”
The root cause, Waitoa says, is people getting dogs they can’t properly care for – including providing proper fencing and de-sexing, and then not enough members of the community calling them out for it.
“About 80% of the dogs that come through [council shelters] are dogs that have been roaming. And then you see on the Facebook community group pages every day that ‘there’s so many dogs roaming’, and there’ll be all these people saying, ‘Don’t call council, because they’ll kill it’.”
She met with Ministry of Social Development staff last month about reports some kids felt too unsafe to walk to school because of roaming dogs.
“The alternative [of not reporting] is these roaming dogs go on to kill people’s cats and stock, and they attack kids, they attack people. So [the public] have got to ask themselves, ‘How many of the 3000 attacks we had last year could’ve been prevented, had they actually rung us?”
An unidentified female dog found wandering at Bairds Mainfreight School is pictured inside a kennel at Manukau Dog Shelter after being captured by Auckland Council animal management officers. Photo / Michael Craig
As Waitoa speaks about life at the front line of Auckland’s canine crisis, the young dog without a name is making her way into the system.
Her expression forlorn and her demeanour beaten, she’s photographed, weighed - 19.5kg - and moved into a freshly cleaned kennel at the Manukau shelter.
She hasn’t barked once, but - as Waitoa says later - an animal with her kind of background often has psychological issues that rule out adoption, or need lengthy rehabilitation the shelter can’t provide.
Cherie Howie is an Auckland-based reporter who joined the Herald in 2011. She has been a journalist for more than 20 years and specialises in general news and features.
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