Eight Thousand Dogs

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 181, 21 October 1927, Page 8

Eight Thousand Dogs

AUCKLAND'S CANINE COMMUNITY

Problems of the City Kennels SIT down, Sandy.” The dog executioner is at work. The short barrel of his harmless looking* humane killex applied to the condemned dogs head, and a eontulsiie flip of Sandy’s tail marks his exit from the stage. In this clean, quick and merciful fashion eight or nine hundred dogs are killed annually in Auckland.

gINCE the canine population of Greater Auckland is estimated at between 7,000 and 8,000, it follows that many must be strays, and that persistent measures to check their increase must be enforced. Further, the four-footed waifs, which frequently contract contagious skin diseases, must in the interests of public safety be kept off the streets. That is why the municipal dog-ranger makes daily patrols of the city, watching for unregistered or dangerous dogs. His is no pleasant task, but

the apparent cruelty which is the guiding motive for his work is more than condoned by the grim necessity for keeping the dog population in hand. Humane instincts have led many dog-lovers to extend their compassion to stray curs caught by the ranger and imprisoned in the City Council’s bleak and exposed cells. As a result of their complaints wooden shelves, giving some degree of warmth, were fitted above the concrete, but better facilities still are needed before the municipality can claim to have seriously endeavoured to solve the problem. WORK AT THE KENNELS One trouble may be lack of staff. The ranger is under the traffic department, and occasionally assists in

controlling traffic. At other times he canvasses for the dog-tax, and is also the poundkeeper, though as that official he is given little trouble in this mechanical age. Still, the niceties of animal welfare demand for the dogs more supervision than the ranger’s manifold tasks permit him to extend, and a boy to keep a constant eye on the kennels should be appointed to help the official. Better still, the council might establish, in a small way, a home for dogs. Run on business lines, as an institution at which pets could be left with an experienced man while their owners were away, the concern could pay its way. Such an institution has been consistently advocated by the local Animal Welfare League. But if the city undertook the responsibility, it could naturally expect to reserve to itself the right of running the establishment. To what extent the existing kennels were designed for their purposes may be gathered from the fact that the building was originally a boiler-house. Unless its owner gives specific instructions for its despatch, an impounded animal is always kept for at least seven days before it is killed. Even at that, a dog seen to be clean, sound, and of good characteristics, is rarely destroyed. For preference the official in charge arranges himself for its future care. There are occasions, however, when owners themselves show callous unconcern. They approach the kennel, peer through the netting, and with unmistakeable actions the dog at once shows joyous recognition. But when some owners learn that a registration fee is wanted, along with the nominal sum of one shilling a day for kennel charges, they say: “That dog is not mine.” CATCHING THE “MANEATER" Beloved pets have to be destroyed when they develop signs of temper or disease. A large bull mastiff, the property of a prominent business man, was one of the worst customers the ranger has had to handle. A real “maneater,” the dog would permit none to enter his cage, and he was shot from the outside. Another fierce dog roamed Auckland for 15 months before he was caught. For another, almost equally cunning, the ranger had to wait six months; and he got him in the end. Dogs registered in Auckland city number about 3,000, a figure which represents to the corporation about £l,lOO in annual licence fees. The municipality is authorised by law to charge 10s a year for a dog, but the fee it levies is only 7s 6d. Other adjacent local bodies, such as Mount Albert, charge the dog-fancier the full amount.