Can Poor People Own Dogs in New Zealand?

The Manukau Courier of Tuesday April 3 had a front page article about this website.

And stay tuned. We have the story of the man who was given one day to pay. Or else they would kill his dog. And many, many more sadly.

The story behind Simba is sad. But good as well. It is about bad humans and good humans. A dog is man's best friend, but man is not always as friendly towards a dog.

Simba didn't have a home. Not any more. She was used up and send away. Used up in produce countless litters. Used up for the horrible practice of being used as bait. A bait dog is used to train dogs to fight. She was basically used for feeding practice. Yes, humans can be awful.

But humans can be good as well. Simba didn't remain homeless. She was found by some caring people. Who asked a family if they could take care of her for a week. Yes, there are foster homes for dogs. And when the week passed, that family didn't want Simba to go. They begged if they could keep her. And so Simba found a home where she slowly healed, mentally and physically.

And then one day the animal control officers showed up in the street. They spotted Simba. And demanded the family handed them over, because she was dangerous. Simba survived the gangs and the fights, but who can escape from government?

In the Manukau Courier of Tuesday April 3 Barry Gillingwater of DSS is quoted. DSS is the company whose vans roam the street in South Auckland trying to catch any dog they can. Barry Gillingwater says:

Quite a reasonable dog, a nicely socialised dog, will probably get put into our adoption programme. It's not like we kill the dog willy-nilly.

We urge you to look at the left. Click on it to get a better view. Do these dogs look menacing? Fido is the dark dog. Within seven days after being impounded he was deemed unsuitable for adoption. And this was a dog that had lived in a family of nine children. This dog wasn't socialised?

For 14-year old Poasa it was a day like any other. Fido, his friend for one and a half years tried to accompany him to school. "No, no," said Poasa as almost any day, "schools are for kids, gardens are for dogs. Go home Fido, I'll be back soon enough." He already enjoyed the idea of coming home and playing with Fido and Warrior. Warrior was his second dog, which he got only a few months ago.

What did Poasa know of a Dog Control Amendment Act passed by overzealous members in parliament in 2003? He would never have suspected that those members in parliament had granted gruesome powers to come after him and his dogs. But he soon would find out how far the government was prepared to go.

It all started with a story in the Manukau Courier of Thursday, March 8, 2007. The whole story is available as scanned image (large, 1.6 MB), but a few extracts from that article follow below:

Grief-stricken sickness beneficiary Nik Taylor faces life without his best friend after Auckland City Council animal control killed his dog Mahia. The Otahuhu man's pet was impounded after he failed to pay the council's $159 registration fee. He was also hit with a $750 fine for obstruction because he wouldn't let animal control take the dog. Officers later broke into his flat and seized the Labrador-cross.