Far North farmer battles feral dogs, calls for pest species recognition

John Nilsson placed an animal carcass on his property with a live-feed camera to monitor feral dogs.

WARNING: This article contains pictures of dead dogs

Packs of feral dogs are back on the prowl in the Far North – bigger and scarier than ever, says a Northland farmer.

John Nilsson claims he loses about 120 ewes and lambs to wild dogs every year on his property, Shenstone Farms, south of Cape Rēinga.

Nilsson wants feral dogs recognised as a pest species so farmers can more efficiently eradicate them.

Four feral dogs have been shot dead on his farm near the popular Te Araroa Trail this year.

He shot three dogs in January and a professional pest controller shot a fourth on February 12.

He also shot another dog on Saturday on a walking track near Ninety Mile Beach.

Nilsson said there were more that needed shooting.

He believed the dogs were breeding because some of the four shot might have been nine months to a year old.

In January, Nilsson placed an animal carcass as bait on his property and used a live-feed camera to monitor the predators it attracted so he could “sneak out and shoot them”.

He said he saw on the camera two “quite big” older dogs, the size of German shepherds.

““... They would be pretty scary to come across if you’re walking the Te Araroa Trail.”

In 2021, the Department of Conservation (DoC) closed some walking trails to the public because of the risk posed by roaming feral dogs.

Farmer John Nilsson and a pest controller have shot four feral dogs on Nilsson’s property so far this year.

There is still a wild dog warning in place for the Te Paki Coastal Track following sightings at Twilight Beach, Scott’s Point and Ninety Mile Beach.

The warning urges people not to walk in the area alone.

In September, DoC engaged sharpshooting hunters to track down dogs before the tramping season because it was concerned about the potential attacks on walkers.

DoC Kaitāia operations manager Meirene Hardy-Birch said feral dogs also posed a serious threat to native wildlife, particularly ground-nesting birds, and livestock.

Nilsson wants feral dogs recognised as a pest species in New Zealand.

“Then we wouldn’t be going outside the law to prevent the problem of my stock being worried.”

Though farmers are allowed to shoot dogs worrying stock, they technically are not allowed to shoot them if they are merely roaming on their property.

Distraught farm worker Sarah Flexman cradles an injured lamb on Nilsson’s property in 2021.

Nilsson said if the dogs were recognised as feral, farmers could also use poison to eradicate them.

There are various methods available to control pest mammals in New Zealand, including traps, poisons and shooting.

Hardy-Birch has previously said New Zealand should consider poisoning feral dogs in the wilderness because of their growing threat to humans and endangered species such as kiwi.

She said the dogs were becoming increasingly dangerous and she and her colleagues were running out of viable options.

Northland Regional Council (NRC) biosecurity and biodiversity working party chairman councillor Jack Craw said the use of poison to eradicate dogs wasn’t a management option.

He explained that a toxin specifically for this purpose would have to be registered by the Environmental Protection Agency, but high public concern would make an application unlikely.

Craw said the regional council had worked with DoC and Far North District Council (FNDC) to address dogs worrying stock in the Te Paki area.

He acknowledged the risk feral dogs posed to stock, wildlife, and “sometimes” the public.

Craw said district councils had a primary role in these matters because they are mandated under the Dog Control Act 1996.

FNDC delivery and operations acting group manager Katie Waiti-Dennis said the district council was responsible for domestic dogs under the Dog Control Act, but questions about responsibility for feral and wild dogs were best directed to NRC and DoC.

And any changes to the Dog Control Act (1996) would be handled by central government, she said.

Waiti-Dennis said the council’s animal management team had had no reports of wild or feral dogs for the past three years.

Jenny Ling is a senior journalist at the Northern Advocate. She has a special interest in covering human interest stories, along with roading, lifestyle, business and animal welfare issues.