“I opened the curtains to see out the back, a whole lot of feathers and chickens just everywhere.
“It was kind of like a bit of a massacre.”
The family had to euthanise three chickens that were still just alive, she said.
Lizzy Waterson said they reported the incident to the Stratford District Council’s animal control team that morning, but had an unexpected response.
“I pretty much just left in a rage when their manager popped her head in ... [saying] that our footage is too grainy, it’s black and white, it doesn’t show the colour of the dog, it’s not hard enough evidence,” she said.
“In a nutshell, unless you see the dog attacking something, they can’t do anything about it.
“It kind of counteracts getting evidence and video.”
She said that after asking around and taking to social media, they later discovered that neighbours in the area shared similar experiences recently where their backyard birds were attacked overnight by dogs.
One neighbour told RNZ anonymously that dogs chewed through mesh wire to break into their bird aviary last month, killing six birds.
They said it was “very upsetting”, and many in the community were feeling “spooked” about dangerous roaming dogs.
“How many families have to be affected for something to be done?” they asked.
Another neighbour told RNZ she lost a dozen backyard birds killed by dogs last week, ones that had been raised since chicks as pets, and left their young child “horrified”.
They said they showed the district council footage from security cameras, which displayed the dogs on the property that night, but said it was considered “not really good evidence”.
They said they had previously seen the suspected dogs jump their own fences and approach them in the streets.
Daniel Waterson said the community was “so frustrated”, as six properties were affected over a few days, with the tally of dead birds up to 50.
“We just don’t want this to happen to anyone else,” he said.
“Well, it’s only a matter of time until it’s a young child.”
A council spokesperson said it had been in touch with a dog owner with animals similar to reported descriptions, and the dogs were impounded on Tuesday.
It said some of the footage provided was not of a suitable quality to identify the dogs.
“We received some video footage of dogs on an affected property, but unfortunately, that footage was not of a suitable quality to even identify the dogs,” they said.
“We received some additional video footage late yesterday [Monday], which has provided enough evidence to positively identify two dogs who have been impounded this morning [Tuesday].”
They said evidence was needed before any formal action could be taken.
“If footage is to be used as evidence of an event happening, then it would either need to show that event taking place or be able to be used together with other evidence to show that the event has happened,” the spokesperson said.
“Often that evidence needs to be collected from a range of sources rather than a single piece being enough on its own.”
They said it was continuing to gather evidence and encouraged anybody with information to contact the council, which will inform the next steps in the investigation.
The council has had 172 calls about roaming dogs in 2023-24, up from 157 the year before, the spokesperson said.
– RNZ
