A spate of dog attacks on cats in some Auckland suburbs has prompted a call for all incidents be reported to Auckland Council’s animal management team.
The latest Auckland Council data shows there has been a 19% rise in dog attacks on other animals in Auckland over the past 12 months.
It also reveals that between July 1 and October 10 there were 104 reports of dog attacks on cats across the entire Auckland region – though it is unknown whether any were fatal or whether multiple reports were filed about the same attack.
Proactive animal management team leader Aaron Neary said there was an increase in the attacks at the moment.
“It’s just down to the sheer number of dogs that there are in Auckland now. Obviously we’re seeing a bit of a boom in the dog population due to dogs not being desexed, not being contained on their properties.”
Neary said this has led to more dogs roaming and more dog attacks as a result, adding that it was “upsetting” to receive callouts.
“We absolutely sympathise with the owners of any animals that are being attacked. I actually do have a cat myself, so I know how upsetting it is to lose a pet.”
He said it is important all dog attacks are reported to enable animal management to investigate, gather evidence and hopefully locate the problem dogs.
“In areas where we’re getting numerous attacks on multiple pets, that’s where we’ll step up patrols, set dog traps, try to locate where these dogs are from and get to the bottom of it.”
Every report made is investigated but that the trickiest part is often locating where the dogs are coming from, he added.
“A lot of these attacks are committed by roaming dogs. They might take a detour before they go back to their property. It can be quite difficult to locate them and even then, where there’s multiple dogs involved, it can be tricky figuring out which one actually was involved in the attack.”
Hillpark resident Al Christ and his family also know the sense of loss after the fatal mauling of their cat Malibu last week.
CCTV footage captured images of two roaming dogs charging onto the family’s property where 14-year-old Malibu was sleeping on the porch.
“My wife happened to just see it and she went out there to witness our cat basically being a tug-of-war toy between two dogs,” Christ told 1News.
“Then one pulled it away from the other and shook his head. I’d say the cat was probably dead in 20 seconds.”
One dog carried Malibu away in its mouth and a family search failed to find her in the days following the attack.
Malibu was one of 11 cats attacked in Hillpark between July 1 and October 10.
A further four were attacked in the neighbouring suburb of Red Hill.
Christ said people have been “very supportive” following the incident.
“Animal control has been great but it’s just we apparently have an ongoing problem. I don’t know what respectable dog owner would allow their dog to roam like this. But it’s happening and it’s happening very frequently in our area, and I think Animal Control is struggling with just the volume of this.”