Waverley resident Wayne Berry says four ewes and one of his lambs were killed in a recent dog attack following the loss of 23 of his sheep in March. Photo / NZME
A Waverley man says he wants more to be done to control dogs after losing 28 sheep in dog attacks this year.
But the South Taranaki District Council says it’s ultimately the responsibility of dog owners.
Four of Wayne Berry’s ewes and one of his lambs were killed in a dog attack this week in a paddock he was grazing.
Four more sheep were left with injuries and had to be administered penicillin jabs.
“I went out there and was a bit shell-shocked,” he said.
“They’ve had their heads bitten and all over their noses and mouths.”
In another dog attack on Berry’s livestock in March, 23 of his sheep were killed by dogs.
Berry said the aftermath of the attack was gruesome.
“A lot of people were crying because they’d never seen anything like it in their life.”
The dogs involved were euthanised after the March incident.
Council regulatory services manager Chantelle Denton said no dog attacks on stock in Waverley had been reported in the past two months, other than Berry’s report this week.
But Berry said he knew of other cases this year of people’s livestock being killed by dogs in town.
Denton said the council undertook activities including targeted patrolling, education, property visits, incentivising desexing and responding to roaming dogs.
Berry said he could not get financial compensation for the loss of his animals and in both cases, he was not covered by insurance.
Ewes cost about $120 and lambs were worth $60-70 each at the moment, he said.
“The dog ranger has been around here a couple of times but I don’t think they [the council] are doing their job hard enough.”
Denton said the council had recently increased resources in its animal control team so they could do more patrolling across the district and be more responsive to reports of problems such as wandering dogs.
“However, we are a small team covering a large geographic area and unfortunately, we can’t be everywhere at once,” she said.
“Ultimately it is the responsibility of dog owners to ensure that their animals are not causing a threat or nuisance to the community.”
Whanganui farmer Grant Adkins said it was a huge concern for farmers and usually was due to people in town not tying their dogs up, or from dogs escaping new properties.
“If their dogs were tied up they wouldn’t run out and attack people’s sheep, so it’s people being irresponsible.
“If a farmer finds a dog on their property, legally they’re allowed to shoot them if they’re still amongst stock.
“But really the owners of the dogs need to be fined as well.”
He said usually one or two sheep were killed in a dog attack and 23 sheep dying was “a shocker”.
“That’s not dogs out looking for food, they’re just tearing throats out of sheep for the fun of it.”
Whanganui Federated Farmers provincial president Ben Fraser said such attacks happened more often than people realised.
Owners should have better control of their animals, with proper fencing and caging, he said.
“The responsibility lies with owners.”
The incident had left Berry with about 20 ewes of his original flock.
“It doesn’t really matter whether they’re registered or unregistered dogs because they shouldn’t be doing what they’re doing,” he said.
“I don’t know where they came from or whose dogs they are.
“People let them go at night time and then this is what happens.”
Berry said the council dog rangers were investigating the second attack to see if they could locate the dogs responsible.
Denton said it was required by law that all dogs from the age of 3 months be registered, and the council worked actively to get all known dogs registered.
“Owning dogs is a significant responsibility and unfortunately there are too many people across the district who get dogs without the means or the intention of looking after them responsibly.”
Eva de Jong is a reporter for the Whanganui Chronicle covering health stories and general news. She began as a reporter in 2023.
Comment: Planting a range of trees will give fruit at different times of the year.