A high number of dog attacks are being reported in Wellington for a second year. Photo: 123RF
A high number of dog attacks are being reported in Wellington for a second year.
The council's annual dog control report, released ahead of Thursday's council meeting, found the number of uncontrolled dogs reported has increased by 26 percent in the last year.
Sixty-five attacks on people, 78 on animals and 697 uncontrolled dogs were reported.
The report suggested the high number of attacks and aggressive dog behaviour appeared to be a nationwide issue.
Public health operations and innovation team leader Jude Austin said Covid-19 was a factor, with dogs being less socialised during the pandemic.
She was hopeful those numbers would decrease as dogs became more socialised again.
A rising dog population, dogs being walked off a lead and dogs being inadequately confined and roaming were also considered contributing factors.
Attacking the wildlife
More animal control officers would be patrolling coastal areas where penguins and endangered bird species' nests have been promised in the upcoming year.
There had been a spate of fatal dog attacks on native birds in recent months around the country.
In the Wellington region, several little blue penguins had been killed by dogs.
Austin said there was a no-tolerance zone for wildlife areas.
"Even if a dog doesn't attack, but is off lead in a wildlife area, then it's no tolerance - it's straight to infringement."
Alongside coastal areas, there would also be increased patrolling at Makara Peak to protect the kiwi population.
Reactive dog control
Austin admitted their response was mostly "complaint-driven".
She said they were identifying which areas saw the most complaints reported so they could focus patrols in those areas.
Over the past 12 months, officers spent over 260 hours carrying out proactive patrols. That amounted to about six-and-a-half weeks of full-time work.
During those patrols, 232 compliance breaches were identified - 173 were enforced by written and verbal warnings, as well as infringement notices.
Infringements skyrocket
Infringements were up this year, with 357 compared to 135 last year.
One-hundred and ninety-seven notices were for unpaid registrations. The remaining 160 were for attacks and uncontrolled dogs in public and wildlife areas, Austin said.
No dog owners were prosecuted this year.
Yellow ribbon campaign
The council promoted the international Yellow Ribbon campaign last year to address some dog behavioural issues and decrease dog attacks.
It encouraged owners to tie a yellow ribbon around their dog's collar or leash if they wanted other dog owners and people to give their dog space.
Dogs may have a yellow ribbon because they are old, injured, in training, a rescue dog or anxious around other dogs and/or people.
Austin said the council would soon release a survey to measure the effectiveness of its campaign.