Owner in shock after impounded dog stolen

A purebred pit bull dog has been stolen from the Hastings pound after being locked up for allegedly biting a tradesman at a Huia St home.

The owner of the 7-year-old dog, named Chaos, is Camberley resident Tui Allan, who said her family pet was taken from her following an incident with a plumber at her home in March and taken to the Hastings Animal Control Centre in Flaxmere.

Ms Allan said a victim impact statement said Chaos had rushed the plumber, pushed him up against a barbecue and apparently bit him.

"I'd just moved in and needed a plumber to fix some things up."

She didn't see the alleged attack and said the plumber never mentioned the bite, nor any aggressive behaviour from the pit bull.

"I went down and saw her at the pound later. I think the plumber had more like a scratch than a bite. His statement said Chaos had stalked him out, so I said, 'Bugger this, I'm fighting it'."

Ms Allan said she spoke to a lawyer about the incident before returning to the pound two weeks later to receive some "shocking" news.

"I don't know how to tell you this but Chaos has been stolen," a pound employee had told her.

"How do you not know when a dog was stolen?" she said.

Ms Allan said Chaos had been impounded before, after biting a woman walking her dog who had stopped on Ms Allan's front lawn last year. Two other dogs she had owned had previously been impounded due to registration issues.

Ms Allan was later criminally charged as being the owner of a dog attacking a person or animal and is due to appear in the Hastings District Court on June 3. She was also told Chaos would be destroyed if found by the authorities.

"I'm a good dog owner. I've always been a good dog owner. I just want her back and now I'm facing $6000 worth of fines or imprisonment."

Hastings District Council community safety manager Phil Evans said the council would not comment on the incident or stolen dog because of the pending court case. However, a council spokesman said that in the past four years three dogs had been stolen from the pound. Two were subsequently recovered and on all three occasions the offence was reported to police.