Dogs at the SPCA’s Mangere centre in Auckland.
Photo: RNZ/Kim Baker Wilson

Hundreds of thousands of dollars are being directed by the government to try to curb rife uncontrolled dog breeding in Auckland and Northland.

The funding comes after a spate of serious dog incidents, including the death of 62-year-old Mihiata Te Rore in a remote Northland settlement in February. The SPCA says three of the last four fatal dog attacks had been in Northland.

Almost $500,000 of money from the Lottery Minister’s Discretionary Fund is going toward desexing.

The SPCA, which is continuing calls for a law overhaul, is putting up a further $700,000.

There was an urgent need for preventative action to protect people, animals and communities, the SPCA said.

Together, the money is enough to desex about 3000 dogs from what’s thought to be up to 51,000 across both regions that are not desexed.

It’s enough to stop around 7500 puppies in a year or about 45,000 across the lifetimes of desexed females.

Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden visited dogs at the SPCA’s Mangere centre in Auckland.
Photo: RNZ/Kim Baker Wilson

Internal Affairs Minister, Brooke van Velden, said the $468,000 was the most she could give and all of what was left of the discretionary fund.

“And this is just the start of a whole reform, potentially, that could be coming from government, from various ministers,” she said.

“This is the Minister of Internal Affairs using the powers available to me.”

Van Velden said she had been horrified by dog attacks, and hearing stories of people too scared to leave their homes for fear of being set upon.

She said her fund’s focus for the last two years had been animal welfare.

“So this sits right within my priority,” she said, announcing the money at the SPCA’s centre in Mangere in Auckland.

SPCA Chief Scientific Officer Dr Arnja Dale and Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden.
Photo: RNZ/Kim Baker Wilson

Unregistered or roaming dogs that have not been desexed were specifically in the SPCA’s sights.

The programme is for early intervention, stopping litters, reducing roaming and lowering the chances of people suffering serious bites.

The funding is ringfenced, and the programme will run from this coming 1 April to 31 March 2027.

The SPCA said there needed to be more than money, and that the current laws lacked teeth.

With the announcement on Wednesday, the SPCA called for an “urgent and comprehensive overhaul” of dog control laws as well as standardised national guidelines for every council.

It also wants a national database for dog bite incidents, strong and enforceable breeding rules, and updated Code of Welfare and ongoing funding for desexing.

A dog at the SPCA’s Mangere centre in Auckland.
Photo: RNZ/Kim Baker Wilson

SPCA chief scientific officer, Dr Arnja Dale, said there had been too many dog bites and fatalities.

“Desexing is brilliant… but it is the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff,” she said, adding the SPCA had been calling for change for 12 years.

“I think it’s important to be hopeful and hope that the evidence that we’ve been providing a number of ministers across a number of portfolios actually leads to some change. We think that the time is right; we’ve had four fatalities in the last few years.

“We feel that the ministers are actually taking much more notice now.”

She believed recent attacks had led to some impetus for change.

“It’s a tragedy that that has occurred, but if it leads to some better outcome for society as a whole then that it would be the silver lining.”

Dale said the SPCA was well set up for the now-funded pilot programme.

“This is our bread and butter, this is critical to our operation,” she said.

Mihiata Te Rore was killed by a pack of dogs at a property at Kaihu, near Dargaville.
Photo: Supplied

Before Mihiata Te Rore was killed by a pack of dogs at a property at Kaihu, near Dargaville, Local Government Minister Simon Watts had said there was no time for law changes before the election and would not commit to changes if the government stayed in power.

After the death, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said he was open to changing the law.

The three dogs that attacked Te Rore were later put down.

Van Velden said her heart went out to people affected by the deaths from dogs.

“Clearly, it’s absolutely horrific and should never have happened,” she said. “My hope from here, though, is that we can prevent some of these attacks happening in our communities across the country, because everybody should feel safe to be in the community.”

The minister would not say what fixes the government was potentially looking at.

“I can’t get ahead of that today, but I’m very proud that I’ve been able to work quickly to be the first government minister off the mark to make sure that we have these programmes to reduce harm in our communities,” she said.

In Auckland, one of the regions targeted, animal control staff have been busier than ever.

Last year, Auckland Council received almost 17,000 reports of roaming dogs and more than 1300 reports of dog attacks on people.

Each year, the council impounds about 10,000 dogs – releasing most of them – and it too has been calling for an overhaul of the decades-old Dog Control Act.

“We want people to be out and about, enjoying our parks, going for walks and having the fear of being attacked by a dog is not something that we want,” it said last month.

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