A hotel owner fined for failing to pick up his dog's poo on a central city street says the Rotorua District Council needs to wake up to the reality of inner-city living.
Brett Marvelly was fined $100 in the Rotorua District Court and ordered to pay $130 costs after failing to pick up faeces left by the family's pet labrador Lace.
Mr Marvelly had unsuccessfully argued the dog was sick and had diarrhoea which could not easily be cleaned up.
Mr Marvelly, who lives in an apartment at the back of his Prince's Gate Hotel, on Pukaki St, said he was being hounded by the council for walking his three-legged labrador in the central city where dogs are banned. That means he would have to load Lace into his car and drive out of the area to exercise her.
"This is ridiculous. They want inner-city living but deny the opportunity for having pets.
"In some cities overseas you are fined if you don't exercise your dog."
Mr Marvelly said he was not opposed to banning dogs from some areas but then the council should provide a designated dog exercise area within the CBD including walking routes to it.
Mr Marvelly said he was not the only dog owner living in the central city who walked their dogs but they did so in the "darkness and the shadows", either early morning or at night.
He claimed in his case a council animal control officer had staked out his home from 5am to catch him.
The officer, Kevin Coutts, said he had gone to Pukaki St early one morning after a complaint about Mr Marvelly walking his dog and had seen him leave the house with the dog and without a lead.
Mr Coutts said Mr Marvelly was not being victimised and he could have been served with two infringements because he also should not have been walking his dog on Pukaki St.
The bylaws were in place to look after and protect people with businesses in the central city such as Mr Marvelly, Mr Coutts said.
When the dog-control laws were reviewed last year, of the 7500 dog owners in Rotorua, only two or three who wanted to walk their dogs on city streets had sent in submissions.
A Rotorua boarding kennels owner, Chris Hill, said he thought banning dogs from the central business area was over the top.
Mr Hill, who owns eight dogs, said he had moved to New Zealand from England where dogs went everywhere, even into pubs. While some dogs could create problems, it was the council's responsibility to round them up and track down the owners, he said.
Cities in the Auckland region allow dogs on inner-city streets but they have to be kept on a lead and their faeces must be immediately picked up.
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