Days later, a 79-year-old man<\/a> was mauled in Gate P\u0101 reserve, leaving his elbow shattered. The Bay of Plenty council in December also reported complaints about roaming dogs had risen 80%.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, in Auckland there were 1341 reports of people being attacked by dogs during a single financial year. <\/p>\n In the courts, Abel Wira was found guilty of manslaughter after his 23 dogs killed Neville Thomson, of Panguru<\/a>. It was a landmark conviction in that no one has been jailed for manslaughter for a fatal dog attack in New Zealand before.<\/p>\n In some of the cases, such as Wira\u2019s, there had been earlier concerns about the dogs.<\/p>\n Thomson\u2019s children told NZME<\/a> after he was found guilty that more needs to be done to monitor dog control, and Wira\u2019s manslaughter conviction should be an opportunity for New Zealand to do better.<\/p>\n \u201cI feel it wasn\u2019t a matter of if someone was going to get hurt, it was a matter of when. And that was our dad. If it wasn\u2019t him, it would be a different family sitting here,\u201d his daughter, Nataria, said.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a great opportunity for New Zealand as a whole to take better care. You should have to take a series of checks before you say, \u2018I want to be a dog owner\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018Warning signs for years\u2019<\/p>\n Pilkington, who was attacked by Walker-Haturini\u2019s dogs<\/a> in the Kaipara, told NZME his attack came after years of ignored warnings<\/a>, and neighbours had long feared there would be a tragedy.<\/p>\n \u201cFor me personally, the biggest impact has been the frustration of seeing the warning signs for years, but being unable to do anything until people were physically harmed,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Pilkington said in 2022, he had intervened in another attack the dogs unleashed on the neighbour\u2019s goats.<\/p>\n One animal was left so badly injured that it required thousands of dollars in veterinary care.<\/p>\n Pilkington said the incident was reported to the landlord, but no action followed and from then on, the dogs were a regular sight roaming the area. Several neighbours also reported the pack had lunged at them over the years.<\/p>\n \u201cThat set the scene for what happened next,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a miracle no one was killed.\u201d<\/p>\n The bites left deep scars across his arms and legs and one tore into his right knee, damaging his medial collateral ligament.<\/p>\n The injury has robbed him of everyday freedoms \u2013 training at the gym, practising ju-jitsu, even simple movement without pain.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve had to cover thousands of my own extensive medical bills and take time off work to recover,\u201d Pilkington said.<\/p>\n The landlord did not respond to NZME\u2019s request for comment.<\/p>\n \u2018Visibly on edge\u2019<\/p>\n Pilkington said although the dogs had been destroyed and the tenants had moved on, a sense of unease remained in the community.<\/p>\n \u201cThe neighbourhood has been deeply affected. People are now visibly on edge when they see unfamiliar dogs in public, something that never used to be the case,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Pilkington noted there was a lack of empathy shown by the dog owners but also points to the role of the landlord, who he says had been alerted to the dangers as far back as 2022, but failed to act.<\/p>\n \u201cHe has never once reached out to any of the victims,\u201d Pilkington says.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you\u2019re a property owner, the safety of the surrounding community has to matter.\u201d<\/p>\n A Kaipara District Council spokesperson said in a statement issued to NZME it received four complaints about the dogs at the property that resulted in site visits, two requiring police back-up.<\/p>\n They said the council carried out several patrols in Settlement Rd during December 2024 and in January this year, and had an officer working with the dog owner to reduce risk.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have a very small but passionate team covering the whole of Kaipara and in our role, we deal with a wide range of owners and dogs daily, often in complex and challenging situations.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhile dog owners are ultimately responsible for their dogs\u2019 behaviour, we know Animal Management plays an important role in managing risk within the community.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018Dog attacks reduced\u2019<\/p>\n The council said the team\u2019s strong approach to working on the risks of wandering dogs had reduced the number of complaints received.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are proud to report that Kaipara district\u2019s wandering dog complaints have fallen by 65% and dog attacks have reduced by 43% year on year. <\/p>\n \u201cEven more encouraging, in the first six months of the 2025-26 registration year, not a single dog attack has been reported in the Mangawhai area, a significant achievement given that Mangawhai was the highest-reported-risk area for dog-versus-person attacks in the Kaipara in 2024-25.\u201d<\/p>\n New Zealand Property Investors Federation advocacy manager Matt Ball said the council\u2019s response highlighted enforcement by the appropriate authorities was the most effective solution to dog problems.<\/p>\n \u201cWe do not recommend that landlords put themselves or their agents at risk by tackling such matters on their own. Nor should this issue be left to landlords to deal with alone. Even if the landlord can evict the tenant (a costly and time-consuming process), it simply shifts the problem to another location,\u201d Ball said.<\/p>\n \u201cIf approached by neighbours with concerns about dogs living at a rental property, we recommend that landlords contact their local Animal Control service. They have the legal power to take action.\u201d<\/p>\n Shannon Pitman is a Whang\u0101rei-based reporter for Open Justice covering courts in the Te Tai Tokerau region. She is of Ng\u0101puhi\/ Ng\u0101ti P\u016bkenga descent and has worked in digital media for the past five years. She joined NZME in 2023.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Her sentencing came after a string of high-profile attacks throughout New Zealand in 2025. The attacks were amid…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":207026,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[89,26630,30701,9219,60044,37151,17518,23157,62865,111,43,139,69,1118,312,427,1337,1455,1530],"class_list":{"0":"post-207025","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-zealand","8":"tag-attack","9":"tag-bite","10":"tag-complaints","11":"tag-dog","12":"tag-followed","13":"tag-graphic","14":"tag-image","15":"tag-kaipara","16":"tag-mauling","17":"tag-new-zealand","18":"tag-news","19":"tag-newzealand","20":"tag-nz","21":"tag-of","22":"tag-says","23":"tag-story","24":"tag-victim","25":"tag-warning","26":"tag-years"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207025","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=207025"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207025\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/207026"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=207025"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=207025"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=207025"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Abel Wira in the High Court at Whang\u0101rei during his trial for the manslaughter of Neville Thomson (inset).<\/p>\n
Nathan Pilkington says even though the dogs have been destroyed and the tenants have moved on, a sense of unease remains in the community. Photo \/ Nathan Pilkington<\/p>\n
The dogs attacked Pilkington as he tried to help the first victim. Photo \/ Nathan Pilkington
Nathan Pilkington suffered several wounds inflicted by four dogs when he tried to intervene during an attack. Photo \/ Nathan Pilkington<\/p>\n