Second dog control officer incident in a month

An Auckland City animal control officer was verbally abused and her van broken into by two members of the public in Waterview yesterday.

The officer impounded an unregistered terrier from a property in Waterbank Crescent while carrying out routine registration checks in the suburb. After placing the dog in her van, she then returned to the same property to impound a second, aggressive dog. As she was walking this dog to her van, two males tried to wrestle the catchpole holding the dog from her in an attempt to release it. She managed to get back to her van, where she found it had been broken into and the terrier gone.

The officer called animal control for back-up and they contacted the police. She was subjected to verbal abuse from the two males and a female owner of one of the dogs until they arrived. The two males fled the scene as the police arrived.

A complaint of theft and unlawfully interfering with a motor vehicle was made and police enquiries are continuing.

Auckland City’s service requests manager, Warren Adler, says the officer was shaken up but physically unharmed.

“The attack follows an earlier incident in Kingsland in late August, where another female officer was physically assaulted by a member of the public.

“It is unacceptable that officers should have to face these kind of threats from the public while attempting to go about their duties.

“These attacks highlight the dangers our officers are facing in their work, primarily from dog owners who are attempting to buck the system and avoid meeting the requirements of responsible dog ownership,” he says. “Had the owner of this dog registered this dog on time, the officer would not have visited the property and this incident would not have occurred.”

Auckland City sent out reminder notices to those owners who have did not register their dogs by the 1 August deadline, advising that a late fee was now payable in addition to the registration fee. From 1 September, officers have been visiting properties and impounding any unregistered dogs. During this time, 75 unregistered dogs have been impounded.

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