Editorial: April 2001

LATE last year New Zealand became aware of a rather strange situation regarding dogs attacking other animals. A fox terrier cross that went visiting with its owner had killed a cat belonging to that friend's neighbour.

This incident, it seems, was blown out of all proportion by Wellington dog control and a court case ensued at which the dog was condemned to death. The dog owner, naturally, appealed - but the judge was under the false impression that he could not alter the council's decision ... so why did they not tell the owner that an appeal would count for nothing and save him the expense?

It was a wrong assumption on the judge's part, as the more experienced Auckland judges demonstrate on every 'dog day'! Once a dog has actually attacked a person or animal the penalty is at the discretion of the judge.Was the original decision a council overkill, or is Wellington dog control itself controlled by a killing agenda?

I fully back whoever 'kidnapped' the dog and trust Toot is living a happy life somewhere in the country, probably as a ratting or rabbiting consultant.

Animals daily kill each other all over New Zealand. I have personally owned a cat that was killed by a neighbour's cat (but I did not demand council action). I have in the course of 20 years had one budgie, three canaries and a guinea pig killed by cats - these things you accept as normal in the animal world because that is the natural instinct of animals.

If in this case it had been another cat that killed the neighbour's cat, would a court case have ensued over the matter? Of course not! And in that case is this not a council with a very public dog-killing agenda? This little dog was no threat at all to anyone, but was condemned by a court that should have had more important things to do!

More and more we see restrictions placed on dogs that do not deserve them, and more and more we are given the pathetic and weak excuse by councils that they are "only doing their job to comply with the law" (and who composed these laws?) and they can not take any action whatsoever against any animal other than dogs because there is no "law that says we have to"! Well whose fault is that?

There should be a tentative list of NZ-wide penalties for dog misdemeanors, with a judge able to apply the maximum listed penalty down to a lesser one as she/he sees fit - fine, muzzle in public, confinement to own property, no leaving the property without a leash, through to death for a dog attack causing a person serious injury. If a dog not on a leash attacks another dog or person the owner should pay not only a fine but any doctor or veterinarian bills associated with the incident.

Cases like this one do tend to make me angry. Responsible dog owners do not let their dogs wander without them, do not let them go into anyone else's yard or create a nuisance to anyone. Yet while that is expected of dog owners, cat owners are happy to have their cats invade yards, use neighbouring gardens as a toilet, rip up rubbish bags if they are left out overnight, dig up new seedlings in their pursuit of a toilet hole, and leave parts of dead birds in yards. Even worse is the experience of a friend who told me recently that a neighbour's cat jumped through an open window on to her bench and was eating the family's dinner when it was discovered. In another incident a neighbour's cat came through a cat-door and scratched a baby playing on the floor. I am sure there are many cat incidents worse than this but we are doing nothing about them. We do nothing about them because we know there are no laws that they are breaking. A dog would be sentenced for that same act!

Until there are cat laws brought in and backed up with that excess of council animal control energy, the cat will remain the only animal that is never under the control of its owner; is most often allowed to breed freely; is a constant nuisance to neighbours both near and far; and is the animal most likely to have no worm treatment, no flea treatment, no vaccinations, and no vet visits unless it is near death or covered in mange and ringworm - not a healthy picture for the community at large.

Unless councils are going to include all animals under the same laws, they should save their death penalties for dogs (and equally cats? cattle? goats? horses? magpies?) that have attacked and injured a person. - Elezabeth