More cruel and irresponsible dog owners in Rotorua will be caught and prosecuted.
The council's animal control supervisor Kevin Coutts, said the council now had the ability to better prosecute animal cruelty cases after one of his staff was recently trained and certified as an animal welfare inspector.
Previously, the council would prosecute only the very worst cases or rely on the SPCA to carry out prosecutions.
But Mr Coutts said because of a lack of funding the SPCA were usually not in a position to take people to court.
This year so far, Rotorua Animal Control officers have caught and prosecuted two local dog owners and another prosecution is in the pipeline.
He said one of the latest convictions was for Rotorua man Howard Roy Rahoroi Paul, who in May, was ordered by a Rotorua District Court judge to pay $1161 and was disqualified for owning a dog for a year.
Paul was convicted for having a climbing carabiner inserted through the neck of his shar pei cross.
The dog would be walked daily with a chain attached to the carabiner and it could not reach a rusty water bowl left for it to drink out of, Mr Coutts said.
The dog was aggressive when around food and other dogs, and the hole left in its neck became so badly infected, it had to be put down, Mr Coutts said.
"When the vet took the carabiner out and cleaned up the wound you could see right through it," Animal control officer Andy Hope said.
In August, The Daily Post reported a story about Rotorua's Monty Corbett whose three American pitbulls savaged his neighbour's elderly labrador.
Corbett was recently sentenced in the Rotorua District Court on a charge of not having proper control of his dogs. He was fined $850 and ordered to pay $139 court costs and $1065.40 reparation. He has also been disqualified from owning dogs for five years.
Mr Hope said if his colleagues spotted any signs of mistreatment or neglect of animals they would report it to him and he would go out to investigate.
The latest case Mr Coutts and Mr Hope will take to court involves the alleged mistreatment and neglect of three puppies, which were so badly dehydrated they were just a day away from death. The three puppies had to eat out of a dirty frying pan left on the ground and were surrounded by their own faeces.
The puppies were put on intravenous drips to save their lives and are now at the dog pound waiting to be re-homed.
Mr Coutts said staff used their discretion when it came to prosecuting animal owners and not every case was put in front of the courts.
"If we put every dog owner in front of the courts we'd be there every day. But, if we decide we have to take a dog out of the system, like Monty Corbett's dogs, we will use the courts."
Mr Coutts said some owners treated their animals like disposable pets.
Mr Coutts said staff were in the process of locating the district's remaining unregistered dogs. It's during this time that Mr Coutts expects more animal welfare cases to appear.
ROTORUA'S DOGS
Rotorua has 10,396 registered dogs belonging to about 8000 owners.
Rotorua's council disqualified four people from owning dogs last financial year.
There are 16 registered "dangerous dogs".
There are 355 registered "menacing dogs" in Rotorua.
The council's Animal Control department received 4115 complaints about dogs.
Animal Control issued 403 infringement notices.
Statistics from the last financial year July 1, 2010-June 30, 2011.