Editorial: Attacks show dog laws need to change

Thegolden Labrador is up there with the "poster boys" of friendly dogs.

I've got one and she's adorable.

Her and my 21-month-old are like best of buds and play together happily.

But call me paranoid, I never take my eyes off them when they are together.

Dogs, and in my opinion no matter what breed, are unpredictable.

No one knows that more than a Rotorua 7-year-old who is this week nursing horrific injuries thought to be inflicted by a neighbour's American pitbull-cross.

Wednesday's Daily Post revealed police are investigating after the dog got into the yard of the boy's house and bit the boy, ripping a chunk of flesh from his right leg.

Rotorua's animal control supervisor Kevin Coutts said it was one of the worst injuries he had seen and said if the dog had attacked a different part of the boy's body, he would have died.

This paper made a decision not to publish photographs of the boy's injuries as they were too graphic.

The boy, who was understandably traumatised, spent a night in Rotorua Hospital but is now recovering with his family at his Western Heights home.

In Rotorua there is no bylaw requiring certain breeds to be spayed or neutered but that could change. It should change.

How many more children and adults need to be maimed and killed before we realise our current dog laws aren't working?

While it is true bad owners are responsible for dog attacks, not bad dogs, the figures can't be disputed. American pitbull breeds make up 1.53 per cent of New Zealand's dog numbers but are responsible for 18 per cent of all attacks.

Prime Minister John Key told us in Rotorua this week there had been several failed reviews on our dog laws. "One of the problems with neutering certain breeds is that there [are] a lot of cross breeds which is where it becomes complicated. If we could find a way to do it we would," he told The Daily Post.

If the Government can look at enforcing contraception on certain types of New Zealanders, it can certainly come down harder on certain breeds of dogs.

What do you think?

Email editor@dailypost.co.nz, text DP then your message to 021 241 4568, or write to editor, PO Box 1442, Rotorua.