Calls for action to tackle growing problem of feral and roaming dogs

Cure. I'm Susie nordquiston for Chelsea Daniels and this is the Front Page, a daily podcast presented by the New Zealand Herald. Feral or roaming dogs have been causing concern in remote parts of New Zealand for years, but now things are getting so bad trampers have been told they risk being attacked if they walk alone. It's prompted calls for drastic action to be taken to curb the issue. But what tools do we have at our disposal to manage the problem and how has it gotten so bad?

Well, it kind of in twenty twenty one. I talked to a farmer last week who said he and his two neighbors between them have shot ninety dogs since twenty twenty one. That included five in the last two months. So in twenty twenty one there was a big push to eradicate them and a whole bunch was shot. And so now you could say there's a ragtag bunch of dogs still out there by the sounds of it.

And many of us will remember the issues with the giant pack of dogs and the Far North from about twenty twenty one. And what areas of New Zealand are we seeing these wild dogs and how difficult are they to track down?

Well, it seems like the worst problems in the Far North around Tippaki region, but we've also seen them further down in Northland round Fangad. There's been some in the central North Island to Udawda and Taranaki and the South Island. So it basically sounds like any remote region can suffer from this.

What sort of problem do these dogs pose to farmland?

Well, you know that worst problem In twenty twenty one you had one farmer lose one hundred and twenty stock and so yeah, it can be a major problem. And the farmers that seem to have the most problem with this kind of thing tend to be the ones who border on dockland or forestry land. So you know, these dogs can run one hundred kilometers a day, so they're like, you know, they're in these big tracts of public land or forestry land. And if you have a farm next to that, then you can be a target.

One of the.

Farmers we were talking to who's lost a lot of stock. It's been going on on is properly for thirty years, but I'll bet it's been going on for a lot longer than that. There's a huge economic impact for farmers. We've spoken to farmers. We've just given up on raising sheep because there's no point. They just get killed. So it's switched over the cattle.

Okay, And it's not just farmers, right. What advice has been issued to trampers and hikers walking through the bush?

Yeah, there have been quite a few reports over the years from trampers that they've spotted dogs. Several I think five dock tracks have been closed in the last few years. While there's been a sweep by hunters to try and track down these dogs. There haven't been any attacks by dogs on trampers. But people are being told in the far North around you know, the out door track, they're being told to have a stick if a dog is not aggressive, go around it, and to travel in pairs.

And what about wildlife? What's the risk there?

Oh?

This has been I mean, this is one of the things that upsets people the most. Since twenty eighteen, there have been eighty nine kiwi known to be killed by dogs, another thirty five more dead kiwi likely to have been killed by dogs, and of course that doesn't include the dogs we don't know about.

So yeah, really tragic.

And also not just kiwi, but penguins, seal pups, rare snails, all sorts of wildlife.

And what could happen to wildlife like kiwi if this problem persists.

Well, a single dog can kill lots of kiwi in one night, so you know that's really of concern.

And if a pet dog gets violence, we love blaming the owner. Is there any one personal group that can be blamed for this problem getting so out of hand? Well, I mean it looks like if you track this back, the much bigger problem is domestic dogs not being well looked after. Full domestic dogs were well looked after, we wouldn't have a feral dog problem.

So you know, there have been eighty six dog attacks on kids in Auckland since only April, so you know there were calls in this story, you know, by farmers for there to be a licensing system for dot So you know, I think it is something that people are starting to realize if we're not going to look after our domestic dogs properly, we're going to have these problems.

We need fu L dinners who are not being responsible to really step up and make sure that they're looking after their animals. And right now, our most expensive registration is only one hundred and thirty two dollars per in them. The cheapest right now is about eighty dollars. Man, if you want to have a dog, you bloody look after your dog. You make sure it's well treated. Please make sure that it's got its vaccinations that you get at d SXT and everything.

What have officials said about this problem? Are they aware of just how bad it has become?

Well?

I spoke in depth to Mayreen Hardybirch, who's the regional manager for DOC in the Far North. She's got thirty years of experience and was amazing on this topic, and she said that she's had conversations with MPI with the SPCA. The SPC told me that they are quite concerned about feral dogs and they've been lobbying MPI on various aspects of this problem for years. And I've got an Official

You touched on the possibility of licensing dog owners. What are some other solutions that are being proposed to tackle this?

Well, this is a super tricky topic, both politically and for those at the grassroots on the ground dealing with this problem.

You know.

Marine Hardy Birch, the dock regional manager in the Far North. She didn't have any easy answers. She said that the legal options available are shooting the dogs, which is what is currently happening. So doc hires sharpshoe basically hunters to kill the dogs when they become aware of them in the bush, and farmers are allowed to kill the dogs on their own property if they're threatening them of their animals,

Yeah, they had no fear or human they it was either me or the dog. It's only time before before they'll come out and get some little kid and plan on the g NS or a tourist walker.

And you had a conversation with Doc recently about what they are doing to tackle this problem in the Far and North. What did they say at the moment.

They're doing a sweep of the Far North ahead of the tramping season with those hunters, so they're going through all those really large tracts of bush and forestry land just to flush out any dogs ahead of the tramping season to keep people safe.

What does the law say about poisoning feral dogs. Definitely no poisoning of feral dogs. It's not lawful in New Zealand, it's lawful in Australia. If anything of that nature was going to be tested here, it would need some political will it would need a lot of groups to get together and collaborate on that. That would be the.

SPCA, doc MPI, and we're miles away from that at the moment.

And I understand some farmers are taking matters into their own hands when it comes to the issue of wild dogs.

Yeah, they've had to be really creative. I mean when this issue really blew up in twenty twenty one, you know, it was a huge community effort to support the farmers who were getting their stock killed at night by these dogs. So you had volunteers from around those far North communities helping those farmers. They did all sorts of things. They put a dog in heat in a cage to attract feral dogs onto the farm where they.

Could be shot.

They caught a feral dog and they called her a Judas dog. They were putting a electric collar on her and hoping she'd go running with a pack that would enable them to find the pack. Unfortunately, she went off and lived by herself, so it didn't work. So yeah, the farmers are the ones who have had to come up with the most creative solutions because they're the ones with the animals being killed on them farm.

When you like knights out in the cold and the wet, looking through thermal imaging cameras and scopes. This one was stalking my sister when she shot it, and that one was caught amongst my Stop.

Hannah, you said that one dog owner wants authorities to take some pretty drastic action. Can you tell us a bit more about that. Yeah.

One of the farmers I spoke to in the Far North, John Nilson. He suggested that domestic dog owners should be licensed, and that there should be different levels of licensing depending on whether you want to breed dogs. He considered them like firearms in the sense that they need to be regulated.

And if we stand back and do nothing about this problem, what could happen?

In your view, well, I guess we are looking at damage to wildlife and more sightings of dogs in the wild and potential for attack, although that hasn't happened yet. The tramper could be attacked and more wildlife could be damaged and killed. And I guess it's an issue where we have to balance off the needs of farmers, the needs of wildlife, the needs of trampers, and the needs of the dogs themselves, because of course, you know, we want them to be living a good life too.

How quickly do we need to get on top of this issue.

Well, Doc's doing it sweet right now. I think they're doing their best to get on top of it very quickly.

Thanks for joining us, Hannah. That's it for this episode of the Front Page. You can read more about today's stories and extensive news coverage at zet here al dot co dot endzet The Front Page is produced by Ethan Sills. Patty Fox is a sound engineer. I'm Susie Nordquist. Subscribe to the Front Page on iHeartRadio or wherever you get your podcasts, and tune and tomorrow for another look behind the headlines.