When the Herald visited the gang-affiliated property, the front gates were open and one dog was strolling on the driveway.
Residents say dog attacks have become so frequent they have created a spreadsheet to keep up with the number of incidents.
“I have made over 100 calls to animal control over the past three years about [the gang’s] stray dogs,” said a homeowner, who asked not to be named.
A couple who had four alpacas attacked in September said, “The emotional toll has been huge as well as financially crippling.
“The youngest one, a 4-year-old, was mauled about the face and eyes and had to be put down.”
The three surviving alpacas are recovering from their injuries at a rescue facility as they can’t safely be returned to the paddock with the dogs still potentially on the loose.
“We still haven’t brought them home, because the issue is not resolved, so that’s it’s not a cheap exercise. We’re trying to get someone to put electric fencing up.”
They estimated the veterinary bills alongside the cost of the electric fencing would likely end up reaching $15,000, and they still don’t know if the dogs responsible were ever captured.
“This could escalate quite easily. There have been a couple of people in the area talking about firearms now … to try and combat this dog problem.”
A man, who asked not to be named, said dogs had mauled three of his sheep, which a vet later put down because they were suffering so severely.
“The damage these dogs do is absolutely gut-wrenching.
“One of my sheep had most of its face ripped off, including both eyes missing, but it was still able to stand up.”
Four of his neighbour’s sheep were also attacked on the same night.
He described the Auckland Council’s animal control response to the attacks as “pathetic”.
“[Animal control say] we can’t connect the mauled animal with any particular dog or incident because there’s no video footage. Case closed.
“You call them, and then they’ll send somebody to have a look, but that might not be the same day, even as what you reported.”
He and his neighbours say animal control was treating the dog attack cases individually, even though they had repeatedly complained about the same pack of dogs from the same property attacking pets and livestock.
“You’d think they would have enough [evidence], they could see enough collateral damage that you’ve got a killing machine somewhere there, it’s not gonna stop for an alpaca or a goat or a sheep or a girl or anything else.
“The sooner we can put an end to all this cruelty the better.”
Another man said he had a lockdown procedure planned with his children after two of his calves were killed by the dogs.
He described finding wounded animals clinging to life with distressing injuries, their insides exposed.
“The [calves’] faces were mauled … [the dogs] just ripped a whole bunch of holes,” he said.
”My oldest son, yeah, he took that pretty hard … he was distraught.”
The animal management officer told him they needed a witness or video proof to determine which dogs were responsible.
“When [animal control] went up and got the dogs, even though the dogs had blood all over them and they were tired … they still couldn’t put them away, they still couldn’t put them down.”
He said it was “a matter of when, not if” the dogs attacked a human.
Auckland Council animal management south team leader James Faulkner said that in the past six months 11 dog attacks had been reported and about 20 stock had been killed after attacks in the area.
“We realise there may be more, but not every incident is being reported to us.
“It’s absolutely awful what has happened to this community. Due to the irresponsible dog owners around, there are a number of roaming dogs in this area.”
In the past two years, 36 dogs from the Totara Park area have been impounded with a mixture of outcomes – 19 were released to owners, 16 were euthanised and one was adopted out.
In response to criticism of animal management’s response, Faulkner said the team “have always taken the correct measures in investigating any attack”.
“Due to lack of conclusive evidence linking a specific dog to any of these attacks or any witnesses to a lot of these attacks, we’re legally unable to remove any dogs at this time.”
Following a meeting with two community representatives, Faulkner said a new plan was in place to try to address the attacks including “proactive patrols” and the placement of two “humane dog traps”.
“For us, obviously, any attack is one too many, and we’re doing absolutely everything we can within our powers to help bring a stop to this, which is why we’ve made this plan with the community in mind.
“The extra resources that we’re putting in are only newly available this year.”
Faulkner said the owners at the gang-affiliated property had been co-operative recently, but they “have had incidents where residents have come out and been verbally abusive to our animal management officers”.
To be able to disqualify someone from owning a dog, at least three recorded infringements must be lodged against a person within 24 months, Faulkner said.
He said there was no evidence of the dogs being aggressive towards humans, but the community should still avoid approaching them.
“Dogs, in general, are usually either aggressive towards animals or people. It’s very rarely that they are both, and in none of these reports over the last two years have there been any inclination that they’ve been aggressive, let alone attacked a person.”
Faulkner said animal management is doing “everything that it can in this situation”.
“We are treating every job that gets reported in the Totara area as critical, whether that be roaming or an attack so that we can get the quickest response to the area.”
Aucklanders can report animal control or welfare concerns to Auckland Council at 09 301 0101.
Jaime Lyth is a multimedia journalist for the New Zealand Herald, focusing on crime and breaking news. Lyth began working under the NZ Herald masthead in 2021 as a reporter for the Northern Advocate in Whangārei.
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