Police called after woman breaks into house to rescue distressed dog

A 64-year-old Auckland woman faced the possibility of criminal charges after breaking into an empty house to rescue a dog.

Widow Cheryl Love used a hammer to smash a pane of glass and crawled into a unit near her home in Sandringham on Monday night.

Ms Love said she found the small terrier in a distressed state with no food and a small amount of water in a bowl.

The house was otherwise empty.

The dog was "alive with fleas", had diarrhoea and was ravenous, she said.

Ms Love took it home and the Auckland City Council's Animal Control department collected the dog on Tuesday.

Ms Love was visited later that day by a constable who said he was there to charge her with breaking and entering and with burglary.

"[The constable] said the owner had complained ... I had stolen the dog. I said no, I removed the dog - an extremely stressed-out little dog who had been there two days and going on two nights."

Ms Love said she considered defending the charges and facing the owner in court, but after talking to the constable, she admitted her role, agreed to pay for the damage and the matter was resolved.

She said the dog had started "barking, crying and whimpering" on Sunday morning. Unable to sleep that night, Ms Love went to the house about 2am, then rang Animal Control at 5am.

Department spokesman Geoff Atherfold said an officer left a card in the letterbox on Monday asking the owner to contact the council within 24 hours.
After a day the council could have obtained a court order to take the dog, he said.

But Ms Love phoned the council on Tuesday morning to say she had the dog.

Mr Atherfold said the owner had claimed the dog.

The council waived the $31 impoundment fee "because of the circumstances around how it got nabbed".

The Herald has been unable to contact the owner.