{"id":103356,"date":"2025-10-27T11:29:26","date_gmt":"2025-10-27T11:29:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/103356\/"},"modified":"2025-10-27T11:29:26","modified_gmt":"2025-10-27T11:29:26","slug":"mount-maunganui-dragon-removed-from-pilot-bay-but-may-return-soon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/103356\/","title":{"rendered":"Mount Maunganui dragon removed from Pilot Bay, but may return soon"},"content":{"rendered":"

While at Pilot Bay, the sculpture captured the public\u2019s imagination<\/a>, prompting a wave of affection and calls to \u201csave the dragon\u201d. <\/p>\n

Tauranga deputy mayor and Mount Maunganui ward councillor Jen Scoular said she was heartened by the response.<\/p>\n

\u201cI like that our people have got behind it,\u201d Scoular said. <\/p>\n

\u201cLots of the texts I received said that it\u2019s lovely in tough times to have something that makes them smile.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt sounds like there are a couple of great options to keep the dragon at the Mount but move her to a more acceptable spot, where hopefully we can still smile when we go past her.\u201d<\/p>\n

The sculpture\u2019s surprise appearance sparked creativity among neighbours. <\/p>\n

Commons Ave resident Ngaire Blackburn said she and her husband Lionel were delighted by the dragon\u2019s sudden arrival.<\/p>\n

\"LionelLionel Blackbourn with his dragon poem Lionel Blackbourn with his dragon poem. Photo \/ Brydie Thompson.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe live in Commons Ave and were very surprised and delighted when the dragon first appeared,\u201d Blackburn said. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe thought it was a lot of fun. Just seeing it down there and looking at it made you feel happy. And other people I spoke to said the same. With everything so dismal, it\u2019s nice to have something cheerful.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lionel, a poet, was inspired to write a whimsical verse titled \u201cThe Commons Ave Dragon\u201d. One stanza reads:<\/p>\n

\u201cAs dragons go, he looks quite fierce,<\/p>\n

A little bit scary but ever so sweet.<\/p>\n

Not one you would want loose in your garden,<\/p>\n

But nice enough if well trained and well fed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Blackburn said while they would have liked the dragon to stay where it was, they understood the council\u2019s concerns about safety, particularly for children.<\/p>\n

The Footes offered a $100 prize in a \u201cName the Dragon\u201d competition, and readers submitted 38 entries to The Weekend Sun. The winning name was \u201cToa Ahi\u201d \u2013 meaning \u201cfire warrior\u201d or \u201cfirefighter\u201d in te reo M\u0101ori.<\/p>\n

The winning entry came from Wendy Turton, a local dog trainer and owner of Tauranga\u2019s Canine Academy.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was thinking that dragons breathe fire, and I knew \u2018ahi\u2019 is fire in M\u0101ori,\u201d Turton said. \u201cIt\u2019s been quite a battle to keep the dragon, so I thought \u2018fire warrior\u2019 would be cool.\u201d<\/p>\n

Turton, who has a background in USAR Search Dogs, SPCA work, dog behaviour and obedience training, also drew inspiration from the animated film How to Train Your Dragon. <\/p>\n

\u201cAs a dog trainer, that movie really resonates. In the movie, they train your dragon for battle.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"While at Pilot Bay, the sculpture captured the public\u2019s imagination, prompting a wave of affection and calls to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":103357,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[3378,1561,3013,19718,71,6101,3242,17707,19722,7810,1614,13233,9763,111,43,139,69,19723,2204,5196,1527,2249,1361,6506],"class_list":["post-103356","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-appeared","tag-bay","tag-but","tag-dragon","tag-from","tag-good","tag-large","tag-maunganui","tag-maunganuis","tag-may","tag-metal","tag-mount","tag-mysteriously","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-pilot","tag-possibly","tag-removed","tag-return","tag-soon","tag-that","tag-vanished"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103356","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103356"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103356\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/103357"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103356"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103356"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103356"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}