A Hamilton man who had 29 dogs living on his suburban property denies he was breeding them for dog-fighting.
Yesterday the SPCA and Hamilton City Council animal control officers, with a police officer, removed 16 of 29 dogs living on Walter Greaves' Massey St property.
Mr Greaves, a truckdriver , said he had twice picked up stray dogs from the side of the road.
"What do you?," he asked. "Run them over?"
A dog and a pitbull bitch with 11 puppies were not removed because they were registered.
Mr Greaves said he bred them for pig-hunting, not dog fighting. "As far as I know none of these dogs have eaten anyone or killed anyone."
However, Hamilton City Council animal care and control manager Marion Peck said Mr Greaves had told the animal control officers yesterday that the dogs were bred for fighting.
Mr Greaves said the number of dogs on his property went out of control when the "kids came home with their dogs".
"It made it look like a big thing -- which it was when the pups came around. It looked like we had 100 dogs here," he said.
Mr Greaves said his children could still get their dogs back from the SPCA and the Hamilton City Council animal centre in Frankton, provided they got them registered.
"They (SPCA and dog control officers) just helped themselves," he said.
"They came around and said we had seven days to get rid of them and they came around 12 hours later and said they had a new law that could take all the dogs off the property."
Ms Peck said it was unlikely Mr Greaves would get a permit to keep more than two dogs on a residential property.
"His property is inadequate for keeping so many dogs," she said.
