KEY POINTS:
A mother who was fatally mauled by two dogs as she took an early morning walk yesterday told neighbours who ran to wrap her bleeding body in towels that "the dogs got me - the dogs have bitten me".
Virginia Ohlson, 56, walked everywhere in her hometown of Murupara, but a 7am stroll along her own street to catch a lift to a computing course ended in tragedy, as she was viciously attacked by a pitbull and a Staffordshire cross which left her slumped and bleeding against a fence.
Detective Senior Sergeant Mark Loper of Rotorua Police confirmed this morning that Ms Ohlson's death was due to shock and trauma resulting from the multiple dog bites she received.
However, the Kennel Club is urging the public not to blame the dogs.
Philip Lyth of the New Zealand Kennel Club said owners who rear dogs irresponsibly are the main offenders.
He said no one can control the people who choose to breed aggressive dogs and backyard breeding is still a big problem in New Zealand.
The mayor of Whakatane District is defending dog control staff following the attack.
Colin Holmes says it is an awful tragedy but there is only so much dog inspectors can do.
Murupara has only one dog control officer due to its rural location, he said.
Police have said the property was fenced, but there were gaps in the fence.
This is the third fatal dog attack in the past 10 years. The last was in August 2004 when 39-year-old Carol Taylor was mauled to death in her Dunedin home by her bull mastiff.
No one saw yesterday's attack on the ambulance worker and community volunteer, but Detective Senior Sergeant Mark Loper said the scene outside the dogs' house - just 250m from Ohlson's own - told the story.
"There's grass out the front of the property with a little bit of blood... she's stumbled down an incline into the property... Inside, where she's collapsed, there's a lot more blood."
Ohlson stayed on her feet during the attack, until the dogs lost interest.
The dog owner was not home when Ohlson was attacked, said Loper, and the property was not fully fenced. He believed the dogs may have been already fighting when Ohlson walked past. "She may have just been in the wrong place."
Other people tried desperately to help at the scene, giving her first aid and trying to stop the blood. But Ohlson, whose legs were bleeding profusely, slipped out of consciousness in the ambulance.
The much-loved mother and lifelong member of the Murupara community died soon after, and her body was last night in Auckland for an autopsy. Loper would not comment on the cause of death until that investigation was complete, but said the dog owner was devastated.
No charges have yet been laid. The dogs were believed to have been put down at the scene. It was not known whether they were registered.
Last night Ohlson's 15-year-old son, Jason, told the Herald on Sunday that his mum, who had raised him alone, was his "best mate". Losing her was "like nothing I've felt before", he said. He wanted all dog owners to know they had to lock up their pets.
"People have just got to realise what it's like, it takes someone's life to realise it."
As dusk fell on Pine Drive last night, dogs still roamed the street where neighbours say the black pitbull and Staffordshire cross had been a menace for some weeks.
Vera Hale, who lives next door to the family who own the dogs, said the animals were pets, but they had frightened her in the past.
"A lot of people have had problems with these dogs, they would rush at people and rush at me when I go and get the newspaper.
She had seen the dogs rush at people walking by. "About three weeks ago I went to the letterbox and they came rushing at me all vicious and I had to close the gate."
Whakatane District Council Mayor Colin Holmes last night described yesterday's events as "really shocking". He said it was "one of those things that should never happen".
Deputy Mayor Graeme Hanlen said the council would launch an investigation into the incident today and councillors would discuss the issue at a meeting on Tuesday.
New Zealand Kennel Club spokesman Philip Lyth said more dog owners were aware of their "responsibilities as dog owners but there was still a few for whom the penalties and dog control laws need to be used on".
The pitbull terrier is one of four dogs banned in Britain making it illegal to own, keep or breed the dog, unless it is officially exempted. But Lyth said in New Zealand there was still debate over the genetic makeup of each breed, making it difficult to identify problem dogs.
Ohlson's family was gathering in her modest Oregon Drive home last night, having travelled from around the country to honour the woman many of them knew as "Mum". The fifth of 13 children, Ohlson trained as a nurse in Auckland but at 18 returned to Murupara to care for her siblings after her mother died.
"She was mummy to all her brothers and sisters," said Lovey Turanga, a close family friend.
Ohlson spent 16 years in the St John service, seven of those as an ambulance officer. She gave up ambulance work to nurse her sick father, who lived with her and Jason.
For three years she had been completing a computer course at Te Wananga o Aotearoa, and yesterday was on her way to get a lift at the marae for a day-long course.
"She was kind, smart, loving," said Jason. "I've got a nickname around [here] - mummy's boy... she's practically all I have."
Jason was last night heading for Rotorua to stay with family and would return to Murupara today with his mother's body before her tangi this week. He said he was thinking of her saying 'I love you son'. "I could always feel what she felt."
Previous dog attacks
April 1997: Koro Dinsdale, a 59-year-old freezing worker, dies after being mauled by a dog on his property.
January 2003: Carolina Anderson, 7, becomes the face of changing dog laws after one side of her face is mauled by an american Staffordshire terrier in an Auckland park. Dog owners Brian Hill and Thomas Owen are sentenced to two months in jail.
August 2004: Dunedin woman Carol Taylor is mauled to death by her bull mastiff.
December 2004: A woman is sentenced to four months' jail after her dog partially rips the ear of a 66-year-old woman.
January 2006: Pauline Cornelius is attacked by a pitbull terrier on the Kapiti Coast. It bites her six times in the groin before digging its teeth into her calf.
March 2007: Wheelchair-bound Dawn Brocket, 75, has a chunk the size of an orange bitten from her arm during an attack by a doberman.
March 2007: Seven-year-old Tyler Hemingway is attacked by a Staffordshire bull terrier in Mt Wellington.
- additional reporting NEWSTALK ZB / NZPA
