1
00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:03,600
Speaker 1: Get this, less than half of all the dogs impounded

2
00:00:03,640 --> 00:00:06,800
Speaker 1: in Auckland last year made it out alive, with an

3
00:00:06,840 --> 00:00:11,840
Speaker 1: average of eleven dogs euthanized every day. Auckland Council euthanized

4
00:00:12,080 --> 00:00:15,080
Speaker 1: just over four thousand dogs in the last financial year,

5
00:00:15,160 --> 00:00:17,920
Speaker 1: up fifty percent on the year before it. It marks

6
00:00:17,960 --> 00:00:20,160
Speaker 1: the first time in a decade that more dogs were

7
00:00:20,160 --> 00:00:23,079
Speaker 1: euthanized than re homed or returned to their owners, and

8
00:00:23,120 --> 00:00:27,320
Speaker 1: the council is pleading potential owners, pleading with potential owners

9
00:00:27,640 --> 00:00:30,840
Speaker 1: to properly consider if they can actually commit to all

10
00:00:30,880 --> 00:00:33,720
Speaker 1: of the responsibilities that come with caring for a dog.

11
00:00:34,200 --> 00:00:38,640
Speaker 1: Ali Waitoa is Auckland Council's manager of Animal Behavement Management

12
00:00:38,880 --> 00:00:40,040
Speaker 1: and she's with us this evening.

13
00:00:40,159 --> 00:00:42,440
Speaker 2: Kelder, good evening, that's the name Jack.

14
00:00:42,800 --> 00:00:45,440
Speaker 1: Why has there been such a rise in the number

15
00:00:45,479 --> 00:00:46,919
Speaker 1: of euthanized dogs.

16
00:00:48,040 --> 00:00:51,440
Speaker 2: Well, we've had a huge increase of twenty six percent

17
00:00:51,520 --> 00:00:54,840
Speaker 2: and pounded dogs across our shelters over us around three

18
00:00:55,120 --> 00:00:59,560
Speaker 2: eighty three hundred dogs and unfortunately we're being the lowest

19
00:01:00,320 --> 00:01:03,960
Speaker 2: claim rate from dog owners in about ten years and

20
00:01:04,080 --> 00:01:06,600
Speaker 2: only forty three percent of those dogs have been claimed,

21
00:01:06,640 --> 00:01:12,520
Speaker 2: so unfortunately that leads to increased euthanasias, which is half

22
00:01:12,600 --> 00:01:13,280
Speaker 2: on everybody.

23
00:01:13,760 --> 00:01:16,039
Speaker 1: Yeah, it must be really painful, But why do you

24
00:01:16,080 --> 00:01:19,520
Speaker 1: think you've had so many more dogs being impended in

25
00:01:19,520 --> 00:01:20,160
Speaker 1: the first place.

26
00:01:21,680 --> 00:01:26,839
Speaker 2: There's been a puppy boom across Auckland since COVID. We've

27
00:01:26,880 --> 00:01:29,800
Speaker 2: noticed that there's a lot of puppies been dumped in

28
00:01:29,920 --> 00:01:33,840
Speaker 2: parks and our shelters. Well, are people trying to relinquish puppies?

29
00:01:33,880 --> 00:01:35,639
Speaker 2: So I think that there are people who are getting

30
00:01:35,640 --> 00:01:38,320
Speaker 2: dogs which probably aren't in a position where they should

31
00:01:38,360 --> 00:01:40,759
Speaker 2: have a dog, and the funds to look after them

32
00:01:40,760 --> 00:01:44,200
Speaker 2: don't have the proper fencing. They're letting them roam and

33
00:01:44,240 --> 00:01:46,000
Speaker 2: they're ending up in our shelters.

34
00:01:46,400 --> 00:01:48,480
Speaker 1: But do you put that down to COVID? Is it

35
00:01:48,520 --> 00:01:49,960
Speaker 1: like a COVID hangover kind of thing?

36
00:01:51,080 --> 00:01:53,840
Speaker 2: Well, there indeed sext thing. So we're definitely seen a

37
00:01:53,840 --> 00:01:56,600
Speaker 2: puppy boon since then, and our dog known dog population

38
00:01:56,680 --> 00:02:01,080
Speaker 2: each year has increased exponentially compared to pre COVID, so

39
00:02:01,440 --> 00:02:04,840
Speaker 2: there's definitely an isition in terms of desexing, and around

40
00:02:05,000 --> 00:02:07,160
Speaker 2: eighty three percent of the dogs in the last three

41
00:02:07,280 --> 00:02:11,200
Speaker 2: years through our shelters are entire and haven't been desex

42
00:02:11,320 --> 00:02:12,880
Speaker 2: so that gives us a bit of a picture of

43
00:02:12,919 --> 00:02:14,000
Speaker 2: what's happening out there.

44
00:02:14,200 --> 00:02:17,200
Speaker 1: Yeah. Right, So eight hundred and fifty dogs had to

45
00:02:17,240 --> 00:02:20,079
Speaker 1: be euthanized because the shelters were full. So talk to

46
00:02:20,160 --> 00:02:22,760
Speaker 1: us though about the efforts that the team takes to

47
00:02:22,800 --> 00:02:24,840
Speaker 1: actually try and rehome the dogs.

48
00:02:25,760 --> 00:02:29,520
Speaker 2: So or the dogs that come through here, they're kept

49
00:02:29,560 --> 00:02:32,080
Speaker 2: for a minimum of seven days to allow the owners

50
00:02:32,120 --> 00:02:35,760
Speaker 2: to come forward and to claim the dog where the

51
00:02:35,800 --> 00:02:40,840
Speaker 2: dog is unclaimed, and as we do enable extensions for

52
00:02:41,000 --> 00:02:43,079
Speaker 2: owners who have genuine reason that they may be a

53
00:02:43,120 --> 00:02:46,720
Speaker 2: couple of days late, but the staff they implement es

54
00:02:46,840 --> 00:02:48,399
Speaker 2: the dog. So we need to make sure that any

55
00:02:48,440 --> 00:02:51,920
Speaker 2: dog that we're potentially going to rehome is suitable to

56
00:02:51,960 --> 00:02:54,520
Speaker 2: go back into the community and won't pose a risk.

57
00:02:56,000 --> 00:02:58,920
Speaker 2: But with the dogs that were ethnos due to capacity,

58
00:02:58,960 --> 00:03:01,639
Speaker 2: they were potentially a dog optical dogs, but there's nowhere

59
00:03:01,680 --> 00:03:04,440
Speaker 2: for them to go. So when you look at that

60
00:03:04,919 --> 00:03:08,520
Speaker 2: large number and the four thousand dogs who put down,

61
00:03:09,600 --> 00:03:11,880
Speaker 2: where do people think that four thousand dogs are going

62
00:03:11,919 --> 00:03:14,280
Speaker 2: to go every year where there going to be looked after,

63
00:03:14,680 --> 00:03:19,960
Speaker 2: cared for, fed, often unsocialized. So unfortunately there's just very

64
00:03:21,840 --> 00:03:25,040
Speaker 2: limited options for those dogs. Other than to be euthanized.

65
00:03:25,600 --> 00:03:28,920
Speaker 1: So sad ah, I mean, how does it affect you

66
00:03:28,960 --> 00:03:29,800
Speaker 1: and your team? Alie?

67
00:03:31,360 --> 00:03:34,760
Speaker 2: Devastating. They're all dog lovers, all of us, and animal

68
00:03:34,800 --> 00:03:37,320
Speaker 2: management them. Almost all of us have dogs, a lot

69
00:03:37,360 --> 00:03:41,440
Speaker 2: of impound dogs, and it's really difficult, particularly on the

70
00:03:41,480 --> 00:03:45,120
Speaker 2: shelter staff who have to support the vets during euthanasias,

71
00:03:45,240 --> 00:03:49,040
Speaker 2: but also our field officers who are picking these dogs

72
00:03:49,120 --> 00:03:51,680
Speaker 2: up as well, and the abuse that they suffer at

73
00:03:51,720 --> 00:03:55,120
Speaker 2: the hands of the community and on Facebook, social media,

74
00:03:55,200 --> 00:03:58,480
Speaker 2: that sort of thing. So it is really devastating. But

75
00:03:58,680 --> 00:04:02,200
Speaker 2: of course the ultimate price paid by the dogs and

76
00:04:02,240 --> 00:04:05,480
Speaker 2: the owners who don't claim them are four thousand owners

77
00:04:06,120 --> 00:04:08,240
Speaker 2: go on and get another one from up the road

78
00:04:08,960 --> 00:04:11,200
Speaker 2: and the process starts all over again.

79
00:04:11,360 --> 00:04:12,760
Speaker 1: Does that happen quite often.

80
00:04:14,240 --> 00:04:17,960
Speaker 2: But constantly? Yeah, dog ends up in the pound, owner

81
00:04:18,000 --> 00:04:22,160
Speaker 2: doesn't claim it. We've been handed out like lollies. They

82
00:04:22,160 --> 00:04:23,960
Speaker 2: get another dog and ends up in the pound in

83
00:04:24,000 --> 00:04:27,840
Speaker 2: six six months time. So that's the cycle that's happening.

84
00:04:27,839 --> 00:04:30,360
Speaker 2: And we're teaching where children are being taught that that's

85
00:04:30,400 --> 00:04:33,920
Speaker 2: the appropriate way to care for a dog in your position.

86
00:04:34,560 --> 00:04:37,440
Speaker 1: Yeah, So how do we break the cycle? What would

87
00:04:37,440 --> 00:04:38,840
Speaker 1: be your message.

88
00:04:39,839 --> 00:04:44,280
Speaker 2: Decet than six de sts. We know there's a lot

89
00:04:44,279 --> 00:04:46,320
Speaker 2: of the issues we're having are in these low socio

90
00:04:46,360 --> 00:04:50,599
Speaker 2: economic areas, so we do have some programs that we've

91
00:04:50,640 --> 00:04:53,080
Speaker 2: been running. One of them was to provide free D

92
00:04:53,200 --> 00:04:55,800
Speaker 2: six and four dogs, claim bids, menacing and also in

93
00:04:55,920 --> 00:04:59,000
Speaker 2: high risk of dog attack areas. We have limited funding

94
00:04:59,080 --> 00:05:02,680
Speaker 2: for that and this high demand business setain issues with

95
00:05:02,800 --> 00:05:05,680
Speaker 2: vet capacity to keep up with the demand. But what

96
00:05:05,760 --> 00:05:09,400
Speaker 2: it really needs, and my view is for Ventral government

97
00:05:09,560 --> 00:05:14,520
Speaker 2: to support to look at the statistics, realize the enormity

98
00:05:14,600 --> 00:05:19,039
Speaker 2: of the situation and to put together some form of

99
00:05:19,080 --> 00:05:24,839
Speaker 2: funding and campaign to help change people's behavior attitudes towards

100
00:05:24,920 --> 00:05:29,279
Speaker 2: desecting and roaming and provide some services to get these

101
00:05:29,320 --> 00:05:33,080
Speaker 2: dogs these sex because when you think, be foolish not

102
00:05:33,120 --> 00:05:36,279
Speaker 2: to think there's ten female dogs having lists of puppies

103
00:05:36,279 --> 00:05:39,920
Speaker 2: across Auckland today, right and if we're desexing one hundred

104
00:05:39,920 --> 00:05:42,680
Speaker 2: a day, we're not keeping on top of it and

105
00:05:42,760 --> 00:05:43,560
Speaker 2: it's going to get worse.

106
00:05:44,360 --> 00:05:46,599
Speaker 1: For more from Hither, duplessyel and Drive.

107
00:05:46,760 --> 00:05:50,200
Speaker 2: Listen live to news talks. It'd be from four pm weekdays,

108
00:05:50,279 --> 00:05:52,480
Speaker 2: or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio