Dogs' destruction ordered after cat death

Della Tiria Paki pleaded guilty in Tauranga District Court yesterday to two charges of being the owner of dangerous dogs which were allowed to be at large without being muzzled. Photo / Thinkstock

A judge has ordered the destruction of two dogs suspected of killing a cat.

Matapihi woman Della Tiria Paki, 64, pleaded guilty in Tauranga District Court yesterday to two charges of being the owner of dangerous dogs which were allowed to be at large without being muzzled.

She was ordered by Judge Robert Wolff to pay $500 towards the cost of the Tauranga City Council prosecution.

Judge Wolff also signed an order barring Paki from owning any dogs for two years.

On July 5 this year the dogs, Paki's shar pei bull mastiff cross called JP and her shar pei cross named Brandy, were roaming in the Matapihi neighbourhood unmuzzled.

JP was caught in a dog trap set by a private property owner and Brandy was roaming inside the same address.

A cat belonging to the property owner was found dead nearby.

Both dogs had been classified as dangerous by Tauranga City Council because of repeated attacks on cats in the neighbourhood and were required to be muzzled to prevent them biting.

Paki had received four previous warnings about the issue and although she had fenced her property with high fences the dogs got out.

Judge Robert Wolff told Paki that he did not doubt she was very attached to her pets but their destruction was inevitable when she had received several warnings about the issue.

Paki's dogs will join two others on death row at the Tauranga pound.

Last week Judge Robert Wolff ordered the destruction of a pitbull after 23-year-old Gate Pa man Joey McDonald pleaded guilty to encouraging the dog to attack his partner and another man who was hospitalised for 10 days and needed skin grafts on his legs.

Gary Heke, 29, of Matua, was fined $500 plus $132.89 court costs after he also pleaded guilty on Monday to being the owner of a dog that attacked his next door neighbour when he was riding his motorbike along their shared driveway on Cambridge Rd in August.

A bull-terrier cross that attacked and killed a 11-year-old child's cat in Matua was also given a death sentence this week.

Council's environment compliance manager John Payne said nearly 1000 dogs were impounded last year with 196 dogs destroyed, the large majority because they were not claimed by their owners and were deemed unsuitable to be rehoused.

"It's not pleasant for anybody having to put someone's loved pet down.

It's particularly upsetting for dog control staff who do get quite attached to some of these dogs when they are held in custody for a while.

"It is done humanely by a vet at the pound."

Mr Payne said the dog's owner was given the chance to say a final goodbye and was also given the option of taking their pet's body away for burial if they wished.

"I'm sure the animal also gets a couple more treats and pats."

Impounded dogs were generally held at the pound for seven days and if the owner could not be found and it was a nice-natured dog every attempt was made to find it a new home, he said.

Mr Payne said the percentage of dog aggression complaints, that is attacking or rushing at a person, as a total of registered dogs in Tauranga had almost halved in the last decade, reducing from 4.7 per cent to 2.05 per cent.