KEY POINTS:
Owners of already fierce dogs sometimes give them methamphetamine to make them more aggressive, an animal controller says.
Stratford animal control officer Kieran Best said he had heard of P, as the drug is known, being fed to pitbulls, making them very unpredictable.
Mr Best told the Taranaki Daily News he had not encountered this problem himself, but had "heard about it from drug squad police at conferences."
"The pitbulls I've had dealings with are naturally aggressive because of the type of people they are with," he said.
"They keep pitbulls around because they don't like visitors and one can only presume they have something to hide -- that they are into crime and drugs.
"They are paranoid about officials visiting and the dog emulates the owner."
The comments come after a dog attack in the region on Sunday when two pitbulls rushed at children walking to a dairy in Manaia.
The children were accompanied by George, a nine-year-old Jack Russell terrier. When the pitbulls rushed at the group, aiming for a four-year-old boy, George started barking and rushed at the pitbulls as the children ran away.
George's owner, 69-year-old Alan Gay, said the pitbulls savaged George until a passing motorist intervened and managed to separate the dogs.
George was later put down because of his injuries.
While there was no suggestion the Manaia dogs were on "P", an armed policewoman was present as they were cornered and loaded into a dog van. The dogs are to be destroyed today.
- NZPA
