The life of an Animal Control officer: 'I have never seen a person that lives on the streets with a skinny dog – they look after their animals'

Napier City Council animal control officer Mike Clark with Poppy. Photo / Linda Hall

The word council brings to mind mayors and councillors, however, there are many more faces behind the scenes of our councils doing amazing mahi. Local Democracy Reporter Linda Hall talks to some of them.

Dogs are no different from humans when it comes to summer – they like to be out and about in the sunshine.

Napier City Council animal control officer Mike Clark there are always more wandering dogs and attacks on humans and animals during the lighter months.

“People go out with their dogs more in warmer weather and it’s also the time of the year when there are more roaming dogs attacking cats,” Clark said.

He said many factors made a dog aggressive.

“Breed is one, the way they have been brought up, plus a lot of a dog’s behaviour comes down to the owner.

“Dogs need to be socialised to know how to behave with other animals and humans. If you own a guarding breed, it will behave as a guard by default.”

Clark said border collies were a popular breed “but they needed to be out working to keep them occupied”.

“Then there are the mastiffs and pit bulls, which have a high drive to guard.”

He said if people were going to give pets as Christmas presents, they should first think of their finances.

“Can you afford food and vet bills? If you have children, think about a breed that interacts well with a family.

“Also, there’s no point getting a dog and then going off on holiday. Your puppy needs to socialise and get used to you and the people around it, the environment, the noises of the neighbourhood and any other animals.

“Then once they have finished their parvo vaccine, it’s important to take them out to parks so they get used to other animals and people and become aware of different noises.”

He said these days it was harder to exercise dogs. “Section sizes have shrunk but all dogs need exercise, no matter what breed they are.”

The worst dog attack he had seen in his seven years working with the council and Armourguard was an elderly lady who had her leg opened up.

“The dog owner left the scene. I’ve also seen some horrific cases where children have been bitten in the face and a man who was pulled from his bike and bitten.

“These attacks have an ongoing impact on the victims, as do dogs rushing at children.”

A big part of Clark’s job was tracking down these dogs.

“We have a good idea of what dogs are in which area and use the internet, descriptions and registrations to locate the animal. We have a good success rate.”

He said some dog owners did not treat their animals with respect.

“I recently saw a dog that had its tail cut off with a blunt instrument. It was infected and the dog was undernourished.

“However, I have never seen a person that lives on the streets with a skinny dog – they look after their animals.”

Clark says he loves his job.

“I like the interaction with people, the great team here and the challenges.

“Sometimes it’s like a whodunit.”

LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.