KEY POINTS:
The long arm of the law is having to stretch a long way these days - in trying to round up stubborn or scared livestock on busy Auckland highways.
Animal control rangers say that without police help, there would be serious accidents caused by the growing problem of wandering stock.
"Police officers are particularly good at putting stock back in paddocks and helping us out, instead of phoning our officer, who could be two hours away," said a Rodney District Council general inspector, Sue Howard.
"They just find the owner of the stock or put them away."
Poor fencing, particularly on lifestyle blocks let for grazing, is blamed for an increase in the number of sheep and cattle straying on to busy city-fringe roads.
"They are all over the place," Ms Howard said. "We are out in the middle of the night, sometimes alone, rounding up stock and not knowing where they are from."
Ms Howard wants owners in the Rodney District to let her know where they are grazing stock, so these can be promptly and safely returned.
Rodney area police supervisor Senior Sergeant Phil Paratene confirmed officers were removing sheep, cattle and horses from motorways and roads.
He said stock owners had to be more responsible for their stock and make sure their fences were up to scratch.
"If their animals wander on to the road and cause a crash, there is some liability there."
A Warkworth policeman who has a farming background, Constable Kevin Blair, said even his knowledge was not always enough to herd panic-stricken cattle off State Highway 1 when he was on his own.
"We need to sort it out fairly quickly because if a car is flying round the corner at 100 km/h and slams into a cattle beast, it's like hitting a brick wall, and the driver will be killed."
Sometimes, the safest action was to shoot the beast.
A backup weapon in the policeman's arsenal is the steel body of a patrol car.
"Once, at night, I had a big black bull on the road.
"He was unhappy. He was stomping his feet and you could see he was not going to move for us.
"We finally rounded him up with a couple of cars because we were scared of getting out.
"The farmer later thanked us, and was curious how we managed because, as he said, it would take a brave man to get in front of that bull."
Potentially lethal
Crashes involving livestock
Year 2002
Fatal: 4
Serious: 9
Minor: 45
Year 2003
Fatal: 1
Serious: 19
Minor: 53
Year 2004
Fatal: 2
Serious: 9
Minor: 44
Year 2005
Fatal: 1
Serious: 12
Minor: 44
Year 2006
Fatal: 1
Serious: 9
Minor: 57
Total
Fatal: 9
Serious: 58
Minor: 243
