LEAD STORY: Pit bulls pull apart family pet

STAFF REPORTERS | 13th February 2010

MAYOR WANTS BAN AFTER LATEST ATTACK

Hastings Mayor Lawrence Yule is calling for a national ban on pit bulls, following another local attack.

Flaxmere woman Karen Robinson watched in horror as two male pit bulls attacked her three-year-old male rottweiler cross Aotea in a bloody hour-long attack.

Ms Robinson had been sleeping in her Kilkee Terrace house and and was woken about 11pm when she heard what she thought was a dog being attacked.

She got up and looked out, to see two pit bulls dogs "tearing" at her dog.

"I think someone may have come onto the section earlier and left the gate open - and they got in." In desperation Ms Robinson picked up a broomstick and tried to beat the attacking dogs away but to no avail.

She frantically called the police who notified animal control officer Alex Pollock.

By the time Mr Pollock reached the residence the dogs had been attacking Aotea for an hour despite him no longer moving.

"When I got there they were tearing at either end of the dog," said Mr Pollock.

"There was blood everywhere, up the shed and across the fence, it looked like a slaughterhouse."

Mr Pollock managed to drag one pit bull away but as he was locking it in the truck the other one ran away.

Amazingly Aotea survived the attack but the extent of the injuries required the dog to be put down.

 "He was a wonderful dog and my grandchildren loved him ... they are crying," Ms Robinson said.

The unregistered pit bull was taken to the pound where animal control officers have been trying to locate the owner. If not claimed within a week the dog will be euthanased. Efforts are also continuing to locate the second pit bull involved in the attack.

The incident is the latest in a series of pit bull attacks around the country, including one last month on a 3-year-old Wairoa girl.

Local Government New Zealand president and Hastings mayor Lawrence Yule wants to see the breed's classification elevated from
menacing to dangerous.

"The time's over for being politically correct about all this, we need to do something," he said.

"In the last two months every dog attack has involved a pit bull. They are a danger to people and other dogs and one day soon a child will be killed by one of these things."

A dangerous classification would mean all pit bulls would have to be neutered. They would also need to be muzzled and kept in a secure cage.

The current menacing rating requires pit bulls to be muzzled in public and be neutered to prevent breeding.

Mr Yule said over time the breed should be completely banned in New Zealand.

He will be taking the proposal to Prime Minister John Key when he arrives in Hawke's Bay next Friday.