Dog rescuer upset at pound reaction

Da'Shaun Walding, left, said she was dismayed at the way Kayla Laurence, right, was treated by management when she offered to help recover pitbull Sense from Whangarei's pound. Photo / Tania Whyte

A good Samaritan who gathered donations to recover an impounded dog says she was ordered off the grounds of Whangarei's Dog Pound by the centre's manager.

Kayla Laurence said she was yet to receive an expected apology, while the Whangarei District Council is still dealing with the matter.

Ms Laurence came to the rescue when Da'Shaun Walding's blind pitbull Sense escaped and was picked up last week by Environmental Northland (ENL) which has Whangarei's dog control contract.

Ms Walding was told Sense would be put down if she could not come up with the $350 to recover him.

She took to Facebook to warn others about the perils of not registering their dog. "My baby is going to exit ths [sic] world over something so small," she wrote.

This caught the attention of Ms Laurence, a stranger to Ms Walding, who did a whip around to raise the money, including $50 from her own pocket.

When Ms Laurence excitedly met Ms Walding at Whangarei's ENL-run Dog Pound, she said she was confronted by ENL manager Keith Thompson.

"He came out and up to my [car] window quite abruptly and said 'are you the one who has been posting on Facebook? He served a trespass [notice] and said I'd been starting a petition against ENL. I said, 'mate that was not a petition, that was to get a dog off death row'."

Ms Walding had just met Ms Laurence in the carpark when Mr Thompson approached them.

"We were trying to tell him, 'no no no she's a lovely lady who has raised the money'," Ms Walding said.

Ms Laurence then left and Ms Walding went inside to pay Sense's bill.

"We played it cool and got the dog," said Ms Laurence. Both women said at no stage did they criticise ENL or their work and the Facebook posts did not name the organisation.

ENL was a contractor of Whangarei District Council.

WDC said Mr Thompson would not be commenting. Yesterday the council was still investigating the matter.