Carl Hoffmann, 85, gets up five times a night to check on his beloved animals after one of his sheep was killed in a dog attack. Photo / Maryana Garcia
Carl Hoffmann, 85, gets up five times a night to check on his beloved animals after one of his sheep was killed in a dog attack. Photo / Maryana Garcia
Brutal night-time attacks by dogs have left six sheep dead in Tikitere, Rotorua.
One resident fears the dogs responsible, having had a taste of blood, could turn on children or the elderly. Another is now getting up five times a night to check on his beloved animals.
Self-described “animal nutter”Carl Hoffmann loved his two sheep and one ram - all called “Sheepy” - as well as his two pigs, eight cats and 10-year-old labrador-corgi cross Milo.
“I go out and talk to my sheep every day,” Hoffmann said.
“I call for them and they come running for their food.”
It was not the first time Hoffmann’s animals had been victims of an attack. Hoffmann said his two pigs were mauled last month and only the timely intervention of his neighbour saved them.
“There were two dogs. He scared them off with the lights of his car.”
Hoffmann said one pig almost lost an ear in that attack.
“I think the world of my animals. It’s sickening that this could happen. Something must be done about it.”
Hoffmann said he had been up five times a night checking on his animals since the attack.
“I just wanted to live quietly with my animals. So I do worry about them.”
Tikitere resident Carl Hoffmann, 85, loves his animals. Photo / Maryana Garcia
Hoffmann, who suffers from hearing loss, said if only he had heard his sheep’s attackers, he would have run outside to fight them off.
Having missed his chance to confront the perpetrators, Hoffmann has settled for “spreading the word until something is done”.
“I just want to help, so that others don’t have to go through the same thing.”
Hoffmann said he found out via social media that other neighbours had suffered from the attacks of two dogs over the last few weeks.
Vercoe said she woke her husband and told him there was a dog outside and it was probably having a go at the sheep.
“He wanted to go outside but I was scared it would attack him.”
He drove to the front paddock where the couple kept their 12 sheep.
“He couldn’t see but he could hear barking. At that stage, we thought it was just one dog.”
But when he shone a light on one patchy, tan and white dog, it didn’t bark.
“It was moving through bush and scrub on the other side of the stream. The other dog was still barking. We didn’t see the other dog at all but we heard it.”
Vercoe said some of the sheep had run into the stream on their property to escape the attackers.
Vercoe said five sheep were lost as a result of the attack.
One was immediately found dead. One injured sheep was so badly mauled it had to be put down and two more later died from their injuries. A fifth, older, sheep was uninjured but also died, Vercoe believed, as a result of the attack.
When they told neighbours what had happened, they found one’s pig had been attacked and another had seen dogs wandering about.
“They described the dogs as American pitbulls.”
Vercoe said it was clear that “menacing dogs” were in the area but the community had not been able to identify them or who might own them.
Guyton encouraged those affected to report any incidents to the council or the police.
Rotorua Lakes Council Community Wellbeing deputy chief executive Anaru Pewhairangi said the council had received five complaints in the last week from the Brunswick area.
Pewhairangi said the reports ranged from roaming dogs to attacks on livestock.
“At this point, the responsible dog or dogs have not been identified,” Pewhairangi said.
“Staff continue to work within affected stock-owners and have gathered any relevant information from residents in an attempt to identify the dogs. The investigation is ongoing.”
