Police shoot two aggressive dogs in Whanganui East after person attacked

Police say the dogs attacked staff and a member of the public. Photo / Bevan Conley

Police have shot two dogs in Whanganui East after they attacked a member of the public.

Police said they were called to assist Whanganui District Council’s animal control team in the vicinity of Talbot St/Wembley Pl about 7am on Monday after reports of aggressive dogs.

The animals reportedly advanced on attending staff to attack them after attacking a member of the public, they said.

“To prevent harm to members of the public or staff involved, the dogs were shot,” they said.

Whanganui East resident Georgina Burke said the dogs – both pitbulls – were on her property about 6.20am and remained on her street for at least 40 minutes.

“They chased my neighbour across the road and back into her house,” she said.

“Another neighbour dropped his wife at work and when he got back, they were on his property and going round and round his car.”

Burke said she called animal management but could not get through on Whanganui District Council’s after-hours line for 30 minutes.

“Fortunately, other members of the public got through and another neighbour contacted police and advised them to come with rifles.

“They were healthy-looking animals but I don’t know if they’d been looked after as pets or guard dogs.

“There were big chains around their necks but obviously they got free somehow.”

People and transformation general manager Catherine Dutton said the council’s after-hours phone service was managed by an external provider.

“The level of service we receive from our provider in normal circumstances is very responsive – 30 minutes is not the usual wait time a member of the public can or should expect when calling,” she said.

“We have investigated and, on this occasion, the call centre was attending to a large volume of weather-related calls that directly impacted their ability to ring-fence queues and ensure that our priority calls were not impacted.

“This situation is extremely out of the ordinary and certainly not the quality of service we strive to provide.”

Last month, a dog was euthanised after it attacked a 5-year-old on school grounds in the Ruapehu District. Burke said she hoped the owners of the dogs in Whanganui East were tracked down.

“People would have woken up hearing gunshots. “It’s a sad situation for everyone and, ultimately, a sad end for the dogs.”

The council’s regulatory and compliance operations manager, Jason Shailer, said police often supported council animal management at short notice, particularly with incidents with menacing animals on the loose.

“If animal management were first on the scene they would have attempted to secure the dogs – but if the dogs were in attack mode, police would have been called to assist,” he said.

Mike Tweed is a multimedia journalist at the Whanganui Chronicle. Since starting in March 2020, he has dabbled in everything from sport to music. At present his focus is local government, primarily the Whanganui District Council.