Family Pet Dies after Roaming Pitbulls Attack

Hastings Mayor Lawrence Yule says someone will die if the prolific Pitbull breed is not brought under control.

A Hastings District Council officer was called to a property in Kilkee Tce, Flaxmere just after 11pm on Thursday night where a woman was trying to beat two pitbulls off her Rottweiler with a broomstick.

By the time authorities could be called and an officer could get to the property the dogs had been mauling the Rottweiler for an hour, even after it had stopped moving.

Animal control officer, Alex Pollock says it was a fully-fenced property but the dogs had got in and had eventually dragged the Rottweiler behind a garden shed.

“When I got there they were tearing at either end of the dog. There was blood everywhere, up the shed and across the fence – it looked like a slaughterhouse,” Mr Pollock says.

He dragged one dog off but while locking it in the truck the other dog managed to escape. Despite a thorough search of the neighbourhood, during which several other wandering Pitbulls were seen, it could not be located.

SPCA officer were called and took the Rottweiler to a vet where the owner, Karen Robinson, agreed the animal should be put out of its misery.

Mayor Yule says it’s obvious to animal control officers, and most other people, that as a breed Pitbulls are vicious and called again for the Government to elevate their classification from Menacing to Dangerous.

“We’ve got to take these dogs out of circulation or these attacks will just become more and more common. Look at the serious attacks over recent months and most are perpetrated by Pitbulls.

“As a country we need to say we’ve had enough and do something about it. They are a danger to people and other dogs and one day soon a child will be killed by one of these things – it’s a ticking time-bomb,” Mayor Yule says.

A rating of Menacing means Pitbulls currently have to be muzzled in public and, as recently passed in Hastings District, they have to neutered to prevent breeding.

If the rating was raised to Dangerous Pitbulls throughout all of New Zealand would have to be neutered. They would also have to be muzzled and kept in a secure cage.

Mayor Yule will be taking his proposal to Prime Minister John Key next week when he comes to Hawke’s Bay.

Officers are currently trying to locate the owner of the Pitbull, however with no registration or micro-chip it’s not expected anyone will come forward to claim the animal.

After seven days the animal will be humanly euthanized unless it’s claimed.

Efforts are continuing to locate the other Pitbull involved in the attack.