Animal Control's service level change

Council's Animal Control service will no longer respond to roaming dog requests outside of daylight hours, unless the dog has been secured.

"The team is trialling this change for a period of six months. What we have found is that 95% of the time that we respond to roaming dog calls at night, the roaming dog has left the area by the time officers get there and in the dark it is difficult to track," explained Kerry Beckett, Council's Senior Animal Control Officer. "This means a wasted trip, at ratepayer expense."

Daylight hours are defined as between 6am and 8pm. Council has looked into the possible road safety effects of this decision, however there are no reported cases in the past nine years that a traffic accident has occurred at night as a result of a roaming dog.

"If the dog has been secured, tied up, or otherwise detained so that the team can be assured of the dog being there when they get to the scene, it will be collected as soon as possible," continued Mrs Beckett.

Council intends to use the savings to enhance other areas of the service like increased patrols, de-sexing and more time spent on the adopt-a-dog programme. Council will still respond to night time calls about stock on roads. Ends: words: 215