Pitbull sentenced to death, attacks in Northland and Tauranga

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Piper, the Hamilton pitbull who has spent the past six months on death row following an attack "provoked by a cat", has been sentenced to death.

Yesterday in Hamilton District Court, Judge Robert Spear ordered Piper's destruction after her owner, Leila Coombes, admitted charges of owning a dog that attacked another dog and a person.

Under new dog control laws, Piper's only hope for a stay of execution lay in convincing Judge Spear there were exceptional circumstances.

Coombes' lawyer, Linda Moy, argued a cat provoked Piper by running across her Plunket Tce property in February, causing the four-year-old to break free from her lead and run into Hayes Paddock, where she bit a siberian husky and its owner. The owner required stitches to her hand while the dog was seen by a vet.

"So if the cat hadn't been born we wouldn't be here," Judge Spear said.

Passing sentence, Judge Spear said he had difficulty accepting Ms Moy's submission because it was clear the dog had little trouble breaking free and the attack was unprovoked.

"Even if I was to accept that a cat did cause this dog to be excited and leave the property, the fact remains that it did attack an owner and her dog walking peacefully in Hayes Paddock."

"There are no exceptional circumstances here. This is a dog clearly with highly aggressive tendencies."

Judge Spear acknowledged that Coombes was remorseful and had sent flowers and chocolates to the victim. He ordered she pay $327 reparation but refused to order reparation towards the council's costs of keeping Piper.

Outside the court Coombes said she accepted that the judge had no choice but to order Piper be put down, but denied her dog was aggressive.

"I just feel like I was a good dog owner. I had her fixed and registered. It's just a horrible accident, she was a lovely dog, I find it hard to believe that she would intentionally hurt this woman."

Coombes' sister appears in Hamilton District Court next week facing similar charges, after her dog, which is Piper's son, was allegedly involved in the same attack.

In Dargaville a toddler had a sandwich snatched from his mouth by a bull mastiff during a spate of eight dog attacks in Northland.

The toddler, a postie and a jogger were attacked in the past seven days.

Five other attacks on family pets in the last 14 days have resulted in three cats being killed and two dogs injured.

Awarness of dog attacks has increased after the death of Dunedin woman Carol Leanne Taylor, 39, a sickness beneficiary, who died last Wednesday after her pet bull mastiff attacked her face and upper body.

Environmental Northland manager Keith Thompson said the three Northlanders were all lucky to escape with minor injuries.

"This number of attacks is going beyond a joke and it's just lucky none of these were more seriously injured," he said.

The 2-1/2-year-old Dargaville boy had been knocked down by a large bull mastiff which stood over him and snatched a sandwich from the boy's mouth.

A few days later the same dog killed a neighbour's cat, Mr Thompson said.

The dog had been seized and its owners charged with offences under the Animal Control Act.

After last Tuesday's attack on the toddler, the next day a jogger was attacked from behind by a pitbull-cross in Whangarei.

Then on Thursday two dogs confronted a female postie in the suburb of Tikipunga.

A passing motorist beat the dogs off with a plastic pipe, saving the woman from serious injury, Mr Thompson said.

"If she wasn't able to use her bike to defend herself and if the man hadn't been passing I'd hate to think what could have happened to her," Mr Thompson said.

The owners of the two dogs, who were known to animal control staff, would be charged in relation to the attack.

The postie was badly shaken by the attack, NZ Post spokeswoman Tui Fletcher said.

In Tauranga a teenager put his hands into the jaws of a vicious dog and pulled the animal off his best mate during a frightening attack.

Fourteen-year-old Chris Wyatt was today being hailed a hero after acting instantly to save his friend Nathan Rowlands from being mauled.

Nathan, 15, was today recovering at home with 10 stitches joining torn skin and muscles in his left calf. It is unlikely he will be walking on the leg until the month's end.

Despite his painful injuries, he said it could have been much worse had it not been for his mate's bravery.

"He's my hero. He put his hands inside the dog's mouth and pulled his lips open to get my leg free. There are not many people who would be brave enough to do that," Nathan said.

The dog attack happened last Friday as the two friends were walking the Rowlands family's six-month-old fox-terrier Sam.

As they walked past a house the dog leapt out at them and attacked the puppy.

"I kicked him and he let go of Sam," Nathan said.

But as Sam ran off whimpering the dog turned on Nathan, biting his left leg.

Seeing his friend in the dog's grip, Chris came to his rescue.

Chris today said that he was not afraid.

"I wasn't afraid. I didn't even think about it at all," he said.

"I heard him [Nathan] yell and just ran over to help him. I just gripped and tried to pry the dog off him."

Nathan's mother, Alison Rowlands, said she later approached the woman owner of the property where the dog sprang from. The woman said she was only minding the dog for its owner.

Tauranga City Council's manager of animal services, John Payne, said he was contacted about the attack and had forwarded the case to the police.

He said owners of dogs that attack causing serious injury could be fined to $20,000 or jailed for three years and was concerned about the attack.

"It falls into the category of being an unregistered dog. I understand the owners only just got it," he said.

But in Auckland greater public awareness and the vigilance of dog control officers were today credited for the big drop in reported dog bites in central Auckland over the past year.

The number of reported incidents of people being bitten in the Auckland City Council area in the 12 months to the end of July totalled 138.

This was down 48 per cent on the 268 incidents in the previous year.

The council's city development committee chairperson, Juliet Yates, said the horrific attack on seven-year-old Carolina Anderson in an Auckland park in January last year had been a key factor.

The attack, which left Carolina with serious facial injuries, led to an enormous increase in public awareness about the need for dog owners to act responsibly, she said.

Another reason was that council officers had taken a vigilant approach to enforcement, especially over dogs wandering the streets and unregistered dogs.

"It's a tribute to the increased public awareness and the vigilance of staff that we have not had another horrific accident like Carolina's," Mrs Yates said.

"There are still bites occurring, so responsible owners will always have to be alert and act in a careful manner, and make sure their dogs are trained and receive proper care."

During the year to July, the council received and took action over 8906 complaints, a 23 per cent decrease over the previous year.

More than half the infringement notices issued were for unregistered dogs.

Complaints related to dog aggression totalled 629, down 39 per cent on the previous year.

Apart from a dog biting a person, aggression-related complaints include a dog biting another dog, biting a cat, challenging a person or biting stock.

- NZPA