Photo: 123RF
"Like something out of The Omen."
That's how a Rotorua resident describes a pack of dogs roaming at night that has left her at her "wits' end" and living in fear.
The woman, who asked not to be named due to potential repercussions, claims she had spent the past four months complaining to the council, to no avail.
But the council has said its animal control unit responded appropriately, having received a call of a "rushing dog" at night, and that patrols in the area will continue while it determined whether any additional steps were required.
The Ōwhata resident said every night four dogs came on to her property and growled, barked, and were menacing.
She believed the owners let them loose between 8.30pm and 4am every night.
"I just get woken at all sorts of hours, you hear them. It's quite freaky, they are very large."
They were also terrorising her cats, which she now locks inside.
She said she did not know what to do, having called the council's animal control unit six to eight times.
Attempts to shoo away the roaming canines herself had been unsuccessful.
The frustrated resident said staff did not follow up until daylight, by which point the dogs could not be found.
She had provided them with the address she believed the dogs came from, but staff were unable to find the dogs, and there were multiple properties at the address.
Now at her "wits' end", she had given up. When a staff member called her two weeks ago, she was told the team worked between 8am and 4.30pm.
"So I thought, unless they attack someone or kill a cat, they're not going to bother coming out."
Before the Rotorua Daily Post asked Rotorua Lakes Council for comment, the website said the unit was on-call 24 hours to deal with dog attacks, stock wandering on public roads, and collection of trapped or secured wandering dogs.
This was then changed to read: "Staff are on call 24-hours to respond to calls about dog attacks, dogs rushing at people, roaming dogs that have been secured, injured dogs, and wandering stock.
"After-hours calls about roaming dogs are assessed on a case-by-case basis and prioritised accordingly."
Community and regulatory services manager Kurt Williams said the information on the website was correct but was improved for clarity going forward.
It was the process the team followed when they received the after-hours calls about roaming from the Ōwhata resident, he said.
"In the one instance this resident has reported a 'rushing dog', our team has responded appropriately, seizing and impounding the dog that night."
In regards to the calls about roaming, the team responded and visited the properties in question on repeated occasions in an attempt to locate the dogs, but so far could only find one dog.
"There has only been one recorded mention of a cat. This involved a call about three dogs roaming that had allegedly previously chased a cat."
He said the team would continue to have a patrolling presence in this area while it determined if any additional steps were required.
When asked what aspect of the unit was 24-hours on call, he said calls about roaming dogs that have been secured, dogs rushing at people, dog attacks, injured dogs and wandering stock are treated as a priority regardless of the time of day, and officers are required to attend with urgency.
"Officers take an informed and risk-based approach to prioritising calls about unsecured roaming dogs after hours. Where necessary, we attend calls about roaming dogs as promptly as we can."
He said it did not expect people to put themselves at unnecessary risk, and while it would be helpful, did not specifically require people to secure or trap dogs.
Williams said officers use all information provided to try and locate dogs. However, as dogs are often on the move, they are not always able to be immediately found.
"While each situation can differ, if the dog/s are located, they're typically seized by [the] council while inquiries are made and, if required, further investigation is undertaken.
"Any dogs seized are well cared for while at the pound."
Officers then determined what action was appropriate for each case.
This could range from returning the dog and issuing a warning, to issuing an infringement or prosecution.
"We take community safety very seriously and do our utmost to meet community expectations while adhering to current legislation around animal control services."
- This story was first published on the NZ Herald website.