Pāpāmoa local criticises Tauranga council for lack of action on dog-prohibited areas on beach

Dogs in prohibited areas of Papamoa Beach.

A Pāpāmoa father whose daughter is “petrified” of dogs is upset with the Tauranga City Council over what he says is a lack of action to enforce the dog-free zone at the beach.

Dogs are prohibited in the area surrounding the Pāpāmoa and Omanu Surf Clubs, Mount Maunganui Main Beach, Moturiki, Mauao and Pilot Bay.

Traditionally there has been a dog-prohibited area on the beach in front of the Pāpāmoa Surf Club. It was reviewed in 2018 and after public discussion, leash control areas were introduced with a provision allowing dogs to move through the two prohibited surf club areas as long as they were on a leash and did not stop.

Jake Thomas has lived in Pāpāmoa for 15 years and said the problem of dogs running amok where they shouldn’t be had been bad lately and the council was, in his view, “useless” at resolving the issue.

He goes there because his 2-year-old daughter is scared of dogs and it was the only official dog-free zone on the beach. Dog owners had been responsive to his daughter when she was frightened but it shouldn’t happen in the first place, he said.

Thomas said he had written to the council five times over the past two years about dog owners not following the rules near the Pāpāmoa Surf Club.

The council said it preferred to educate rather than fine people and complaints were prioritised according to risks.

The dog-prohibited area along Pāpāmoa beach is directly adjacent to the domain and surf club.

Thomas said the council was “pretty bloody useless”.

“There’s no recall on dog owners at all. Whatsoever. And no one is ever down there to do anything about it. Educating just doesn’t work. It clearly doesn’t work. If it’s not working, you need to try something else.

“I’m going to do something about it, for my daughter’s sake. It’s the only beach we’ve got and I’m going to stick up for it.”

In the three years to November 29, the council had received three formal complaints about unleashed dogs at Pāpāmoa, Animal Services team leader Brent Lincoln said.

“Issuing infringements only sometimes achieves the best outcomes. In relation to a breach of a bylaw, we like to provide education as the first step.

“In each of the three formal complaints, there were no acts of aggression. Each dog was reported with its owner but was not leashed.

“On each occasion, patrols were undertaken, but the offender was not located. Other dog owners present at the time were spoken to, and the rules were mentioned.”

Lincoln said council staff often patrolled the banned areas but if people did not make a complaint, they were unable to act.

Any complaint was prioritised based on the ongoing risk to the “people of Tauranga or their pets”, meaning a complaint about an aggressive dog would be attended to before a complaint about one that wasn’t causing “any real issue but is in breach of a bylaw”.