Race Relations Commissioner Dame Susan Devoy has described comments by the SPCA suggesting a link between dog attacks and an owner's ethnicity as “incredibly offensive”.
The association's Auckland executive director Bob Kerridge said ethnicity was a factor in the 314 dog attacks in South Auckland between 2009 and last year. In Auckland itself there were 77 attacks in the same period.
Dame Susan called Kerridge's claims “unhelpful, wrong and incredibly offensive to a lot of people”.
Some people were not good at caring for their animals but their race was not to blame, she said.
Kerridge told Radio New Zealand today he stood by his comments that ethnicity plays a role. “This is not specifically about ethnics, it is just a contributing factor to the problem of dog control.”
Veterinary Association president Steve Merchant said there was no evidence to support Kerridge's comments. Problems tended to arise when owners bought a breed they did not understand. That happened everywhere, not just South Auckland.