{"id":293150,"date":"2026-02-20T08:45:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-20T08:45:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/293150\/"},"modified":"2026-02-20T08:45:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T08:45:08","slug":"kaihu-dog-attack-impounded-dogs-to-be-destroyed-after-northland-police-investigation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/293150\/","title":{"rendered":"Kaihu dog attack: Impounded dogs to be destroyed after Northland police investigation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Authorities have not responded to questions about the dogs\u2019 breeds.<\/p>\n

Tuesday\u2019s fatal attack has prompted people to come forward to share their encounters with roaming dogs in Kaihu. <\/p>\n

Auckland man Brandon Tai told the Northern Advocate this week that he was attacked by three dogs<\/a> near where Te Rore was killed.<\/p>\n

He felt guilt at not doing more to report the incident. It is unconfirmed whether the same dogs were involved.<\/p>\n

His story and that of others shared by various media organisations has prompted the Kaipara District Council to come under fire.<\/p>\n

RNZ reported a Kaihu local, who claimed to have run-ins with the dogs involved in Te Rore\u2019s death, as having warned the council about the canines.<\/p>\n

He believed the fatal attack should never have happened, saying dog control had received multiple complaints but failed to act<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Kaipara District Council told the Northern Advocate it received four service requests about the dogs involved in Te Rore\u2019s death.<\/p>\n

The first was received in November, then December and again this month.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur team responded to each service request on the same day,\u201d a council spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

They reported staff as having visited the SH12 property multiple times to speak to the owner, as well as contacting family and iwi liaison.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the dogs were seen they were on the property.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"PolicePolice cordon off a Kaihu property as part of their investigation into the fatal dog attack. Photo \/ Jason Dorday<\/p>\n

The council spokesperson said staff in December spoke to the owner about keeping the dogs secure and compliance \u2013 including the consequences of non-compliance.<\/p>\n

Staff visited the property twice this month which included Monday, the day before Te Rore died.<\/p>\n

On that visit, council had been unable to talk to the owner or uplift the dogs.<\/p>\n

Council did not say why but noted the Dog Control Act sets the requirements around enforcement and the uplift of any dog.<\/p>\n

According to the act \u2013 which is now under heavy scrutiny<\/a> \u2013 a dog can be uplifted when it is roaming and uncontrolled, posing a threat or nuisance, being actively pursued after an incident, or has entered another person\u2019s property unpermitted.<\/p>\n

The council spokesperson said in between the visits, staff carried out multiple patrols in the area to sight any loose dogs \u2013 none of which were seen.<\/p>\n

Staff also door-knocked every property on Kaihu Wood Rd and spoke to residents about microchipping, registration and keeping dogs secure.<\/p>\n

\u201cKaipara District Council animal management team have been focused on roaming dogs, reducing complaints by 65% over the last two years,\u201d the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

\u201cDog owners are responsible for their dogs \u2013 they have a legal responsibility to look after and control their animals but we also acknowledge that council\u2019s animal control plays an important role in managing risks in the community.\u201d<\/p>\n

The council spokesperson said staff were devastated by Tuesday\u2019s incident.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a very small but extremely passionate team covering the whole of the district, and in their role they deal with a wide range of owners and dogs daily, often in complex and challenging situations.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Authorities have not responded to questions about the dogs\u2019 breeds. Tuesday\u2019s fatal attack has prompted people to come…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":293151,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[74,89,5195,2223,5205,14167,7557,9219,9213,11784,15264,12898,2205,160178,23157,62865,111,43,139,1067,69,675,1529,61,78287,1533],"class_list":{"0":"post-293150","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-zealand","8":"tag-after","9":"tag-attack","10":"tag-be","11":"tag-confirmed","12":"tag-council","13":"tag-destroyed","14":"tag-district","15":"tag-dog","16":"tag-dogs","17":"tag-fatal","18":"tag-impounded","19":"tag-investigation","20":"tag-involved","21":"tag-kaihu","22":"tag-kaipara","23":"tag-mauling","24":"tag-new-zealand","25":"tag-news","26":"tag-newzealand","27":"tag-northland","28":"tag-nz","29":"tag-police","30":"tag-three","31":"tag-to","32":"tag-tuesdays","33":"tag-will"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293150","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=293150"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293150\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/293151"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=293150"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=293150"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=293150"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}