<\/p>\n
\nMore than 6000 fines have been issued to Auckland dog owners in October.
\nPhoto: File image \/ Stuff\n<\/p>\n
More than 6000 fines have been dished out to Auckland dog owners who have repeatedly ignored warnings from Auckland Council to register their pets.<\/p>\n
Auckland Council has been cracking down on dog owners to register their dogs or be hit with an infringement fine of $300, or face the court.<\/p>\n
As of 1 October, 6027 infringement notices were sent to dog owners who ignored earlier warnings – an increase of about 7.5 percent on last year’s 5572.<\/p>\n
The fines were sent after earlier pre-infringement notices in August to 21,600 to dog owners, by email and post, and an extension of the usual deadline by two weeks to give people extra time to pay.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Animal Management manager Elly Waitoa said the lack of progress was deeply disappointing.<\/p>\n
“Frankly, we’re frustrated,” Waitoa said.<\/p>\n
“We’ve done everything we can to make it easy for people – multiple reminders, extended grace periods, and clear communication – but too many dog owners are still refusing to meet their basic responsibilities.”<\/p>\n
In February, council sent out 5572 infringement notices to dog owners.<\/p>\n
Council figures show more than 29,084 dogs remain unregistered by their owners as of August 1, when council rolled over to charging a late fee.<\/p>\n
Waitoa said registration wasn’t optional.<\/p>\n
“It isn’t red tape. It’s a legal requirement, and it’s how we fund critical animal management services from dealing with roaming dogs to prosecuting owners whose animals attack people or other pets.”<\/p>\n
She said council data showed a clear link between unregistered dogs and higher rates of roaming and attacks.<\/p>\n
Last registration year was the first time council issued bulk infringements, and a total of 3372 infringements totalling more than $910,000 remained outstanding.<\/p>\n
While over a third of the dogs who were infringed last year have since been registered, Waitoa said it’s still nowhere near enough and the overall level of compliance remains too low.<\/p>\n
“It’s frustrating and disheartening to see the message still isn’t sinking in, that dog owners think the rules don’t apply to them.<\/p>\n
“The time for leniency and excuses is over – it’s about fairness to the majority of dog owners who already do the right thing.”<\/p>\n
She said owners now have 28 days to pay their fines.<\/p>\n
If unpaid, a final reminder will be issued, giving a further 28 days to pay before the infringement is transferred to the Ministry of Justice for enforcement.<\/p>\n
“Ignoring the rules won’t make them go away. If you haven’t registered your dog yet, do it now or face the consequences.”<\/p>\n
LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"More than 6000 fines have been issued to Auckland dog owners in October. Photo: File image \/ Stuff…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":55615,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[48,47,42,43,49,46,44,45,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-55614","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-audio","9":"tag-current-affairs","10":"tag-headlines","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-podcasts","13":"tag-public-radio","14":"tag-radio-new-zealand","15":"tag-rnz","16":"tag-top-news","17":"tag-top-stories","18":"tag-topnews","19":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55614","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=55614"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55614\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55615"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55614"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55614"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55614"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}