Northland news in brief: Dog saved from Waitangi River with rescuer

The rescued dog was barely the worse for wear despite nearly drowning in the Waitangi River. Photo / Sam Stewart

A dog saved in a community rescue mission after a night stuck on rocks in the Waitangi River has a new home. The dog, which has been named Blue, moved in with a Haruru Falls foster family yesterday. If the owner does not come forward by the end of the week the family will be able to keep him. Many people took part in last Thursday's rescue, in particular Paihia's Brad Windust, who went out in a kayak in a bid to bring the distressed pooch to shore, and Haruru's Lucy Miller, who managed to get a leash on it and coax it into her car. Windust, who was bitten while trying to lift the dog into his kayak, was convinced more than once the dog had drowned and was amazed by its recovery. Vet Natalie Struthers, of Village Vets in Paihia, said the ''lovely natured'' 1-2 year old cross-bred male had a few cuts on its footpads but was otherwise unharmed by the ordeal. The dog had no collar or microchip. As of yesterday efforts to find the original owner had been fruitless.

Teachers to march

Striking teachers will be picketing at schools and major intersections throughout Whangārei from 8.30am to 9.30am today before assembling at Mander Park at 11am. They will then march from 12pm through the Central Ave, Water St, Bank St, Cameron St, Walton St, Dent St and Lower Dent St finishing at Hihiaua Park, with a rally from 1pm to 1.30pm. In Kaitaia the march starts from 12pm at Jaycee Park and will head from there through the main street to the old Pak'nSave carpark for a rally.

Garage fire halted

Volunteer firefighters stopped a blaze spreading from a garage to a house just three metres away when they were called on Sunday about 5.30pm. Chief fire officer Darrell Trigg said the cause of the fire in a garage was yet to be determined. He said firefighters doused the side of the house with water and extinguished the blaze in the garage. Trigg said it was unfortunate the garage and belongings had been damaged but no one had been injured.

Euthanasia Bill support

A Whangārei group will gather in Cameron St Mall on June 14 and walk to local MP Shane Reti's office to ask him to vote for the End of Life Choice Bill during its second reading. Reti has agreed to meet with the Northland end-of-life-choice focus group at 1pm to receive the letter petitioning for his vote. A new Horizon Research poll taken in April, after Parliament's Justice select committee reported on a record 39,000 submissions on the bill, found 74 per cent of respondents believe mentally competent New Zealanders aged 18 or over with an end-stage terminal disease should be able to get medical assistance to end their lives, and 65 per cent believe the choice should also be available for people with "irreversible unbearable suffering which may not cause death in the immediate future".

Whangarei crash slows traffic

A head-on crash during busy morning commuter traffic caused a major queue in Whangarei. Senior Sergeant Brian Swann said the two-vehicle crash was on Riverside Dr near the intersection with Mackesy Rd about 7.30am yesterday. The crash caused airbags in one car to deploy. Swann said one of the cars was taken away on a tow truck. As emergency services worked to clear the scene as quickly as they could the cash caused a backlog of traffic travelling from Onerahi and Whangarei Heads area into the city centre. One regular commuter said the trip from Waikaraka to the central city normally took 15 minutes but this morning it took just on an hour to make the trip.