Another plea to dog owners over kiwi

Dog owners are again being urged to keep their pets out of kiwi zones after four dogs were seen wandering deep inside Opua Forest's kiwi zone on Sunday.

The Northern Advocate saw the dogs, two male, two female, none with collars and apparently all unregistered , on Sunday afternoon., about a kilometre up a track from School Road in Paihia to a lookout point.

Bay Bush Action spokesman said owners needed to make sure they knew where their dogs were at all times, and not just let them off the lead for exercise.

"If they're roaming the bush in a pack we'd be really, really concerned, especially with kiwi already on their last legs, and all the effort we're putting into pest control in Opua Forest," he said, adding that in 1987 a single dog that was lost in Waitangi Forest for six weeks was blamed for killing more than 500 kiwi.

The Department of Conservation's Bay of Islands area manager, Rolien Elliot, said dogs were the number one killer of kiwi in the North, and it was disappointing that someone had allowed their dogs to roam in a forest that was home to the endangered Northland brown kiwi.

The sighting came as the Far North District Council prepared a crackdown on unregistered dogs.

Monitoring manager Barry Webb said allowing a dog to wander unsupervised in a public place was an offence under the council's animal control bylaw. Dogs deemed to be dangerous also had to be muzzled while off the leash.

Animal control officers would carry out a door-to-door check in the School Road area to see if anyone knew the dogs' owners. If located, they would be required to register the animals, if they were not already, and asked why they were not wearing collars or tags.

The owners would also be told the rules relating to dogs in kiwi zones.

Mr Webb said anyone living in an urban area needed a permit to keep more than two dogs per property.

The council was planning to check for unregistered dogs after the July-August dog registration period by visiting properties with previously registered dogs, and where dogs had been seen but not registered.

DOC and the council urged anyone who saw roaming dogs to call the council's dog ranger on 0800 920-029 or (09) 401-5200 from cell phones or outside the district.