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<\/p>\nThe local MP says he was distressed to hear that a young child had died after a dog attack in the Christchurch suburb of Aranui.<\/p>\n
Police found the child in a critical condition after being called to a house on Basingstoke Street just before 5pm on Friday. They later died at the scene.<\/p>\n
MP for the Christchurch East electorate, Reuben Davidson, said it was a tragedy for the family and the wider community.<\/p>\n
Local Burwood Ward councillor Kelly Barber said her first thoughts were with the child’s family.<\/p>\n
“It’s a very sad situation, and my first thoughts were with the family and how devastated they must be at the loss of their child. I also hope there is something we can learn from the ongoing police investigation that reduces the likelihood of this ever happening again,” she said.<\/p>\n
Police investigators have left the scene.<\/p>\n
The dog, which lived at the house, was removed by Animal Control, and police were speaking with the residents and providing support.<\/p>\n
“Upon arrival, emergency services located a young child in a critical condition,” Senior Sergeant Dan Overend said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Basingstoke Street, Christchurch, 15 August.<\/p>\n
Tim Brown \/ RNZ<\/p>\n
“Despite the immediate efforts of first responders and a member of the household, the child sadly died at the scene.”<\/p>\n
Overend said the dog involved was known to the occupants of the address and lived at the property.<\/p>\n
“Occupants of the address are assisting police with enquiries.”<\/p>\n
St John said two ambulances, two rapid response units and one operations manager attended.<\/p>\n
Govt weighs stronger dog control penalties, greater council powers<\/p>\n
Local Government Minister Simon Watts said the Government was reviewing the Dog Control Act to ensure councils had the tools to manage dangerous dogs and protect communities.<\/p>\n
“The news of this dog attack is devastating, and my thoughts are with the child’s family, and everyone affected,” he said.<\/p>\n
“Every New Zealander should be able to feel safe in their community and not fear being attacked by a dangerous and uncontrolled dog.”<\/p>\n
Watts said stronger penalties and greater powers for council officers were among the options being considered as part of the review.<\/p>\n
He said the Government had also released updated Dog Control and Enforcement Guidelines, giving councils clearer and more consistent guidance under the current framework.<\/p>\n
Officials were working with councils, animal control officers and other stakeholders to identify further changes that might be needed, he said.<\/p>\n
Many people in the area told RNZ they were unaware of the tragedy until they heard about it on the news on Saturday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The local MP says he was distressed to hear that a young child had died after a dog…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":569396,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-569395","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/569395","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=569395"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/569395\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/569396"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=569395"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=569395"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=569395"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}