Trisha and Barry Hart are disgusted with the copious amounts of rubbish including a deer carcass which has been dumped on the outskirts of their property. Photo / Stephen Parker
Trisha and Barry Hart are disgusted with the copious amounts of rubbish including a deer carcass which has been dumped on the outskirts of their property. Photo / Stephen Parker
A Rotorua couple are fed up after two deer carcasses were dumped near their property, the latest in what they say has been a decade of rubbish dumping.
Barry and Trisha Hart first smelled the deer as they sat down for dinner and knew the notorious dumping ground located outside the perimeter of their property was the likely culprit for the stench.
What they found would have made the strongest stomach queasy - two skinned deer carcasses that were blue and green from rot.
Household rubbish was just some of the rubbish found at the site on Dalberth Rd. Photo / Stephen Parker
The couple who own Little Doggies, boarding kennels and cattery, on the corner of Dalbeth Rd and State Highway 5, said it was a disgraceful sight and they were ashamed when their customers started complaining of the smell.
"It's just annoying because this is one of the places that people come into Rotorua. It is lovely coming over the hill and seeing the view of the lake, but you get here and its disgusting and I feel really embarrassed about it." Trisha Hart said.
She had rung the council on Monday to clean up the area.
Old carpet and old bikes were some of the items that had been dumped in the area. Photo / Stephen Parker
In the last 10 years the couple has seen the area host wild pig carcasses, tyres, children's bikes and tonnes of household and green waste.
Trisha said she had contacted the council half a dozen times in past years but people continued to dump their rubbish and it sometimes attracted rats.
"The council will come and clean it up but within a week there is more rubbish. It just doesn't stop."
Trisha believed that if those who were dumping the rubbish thought they could be seen they wouldn't continue to dump it. She wanted the bracken and blackberries cleared so the site could be seen from the main highway and the couple's home.
The bushes are on council land and Barry said he couldn't remove the blackberry bushes himself because they were too dense.
"It has got to the stage where you need a reasonable size machine to clean it up."
Carpet and green waste was part of the rubbish that has been left at the site for months. Photo / Stephen Parker
Railcruising owner Jane Oppatt said the dumping was a widespread problem around Rotorua.
She said her guides had mentioned last week they could smell something dead along the part of the track that runs right past the dumping ground on Dalbeth Rd.
"People dump rubbish everywhere, it is appalling. The rest area where we turn around at Tarukenga, there is always rubbish there. People just trash it."
She said as a business owner it was extremely embarrassing and she would often apologise to her customers for the state of the rest area.
Oppatt thought it was disgusting and a major health issue when people dumped animal carcasses.
The Rotorua Landfill is a 20-minute drive through the city from the dumping ground on Dalbeth Rd
She was very disappointed at the sector of society that thought it was "okay" to dump rubbish instead of taking it to the landfill and disposing of it correctly.
"We don't have the resources and I don't think we should be spending money to clean it.
"Maybe the council could put a camera in certain places that are known dumping areas and just get number plates and prosecute the people."
Councillor Merepeka Raukawa-Tait thought dumping was irresponsible at any time, not to mention the height of summer.
She said the dumping of the deer carcass on Dalbeth Rd spoke to the character of the people that would do such a thing.
"I think that actually should be followed up and we should do some more investigation on that.
"It has the potential to be a quite severe health issue and it is spoiling the environment to the local people as well. I just think it is totally irresponsible, there is no need for it."
Raukawa-Tait did not believe Rotorua had a dumping problem and wondered if it was inexperienced hunters that had left the deer to rot.
"Quite frankly if they can't bury or do something more appropriate with the guts and everything else that is leftover then they should stay in the bush themselves," she said.
