The scene of a fatal dog attack in Kaihu, Northland.
Photo: RNZ

The small Northland settlement where a woman was mauled to death by a pack of dogs is devastated, a councillor and kaumātua for the region says.

Emergency crews rushed to Kaihu north of Dargaville on Monday and Police remained at the scene several hours.

Cordon tape was tied across the gate.

The community is tiny – the pub is for sale, there’s rugby field, a small gas station down the road and a smattering of homes.

“Our thoughts and our aroha is with the grieving family and the community,” Snow Tane told RNZ after learning of the attack.

He himself had driven by the scene before he knew what happened, taking note of the flurry of emergency vehicles that rushed there.

Tane had since heard from some who live in Kaihu.

“We’ve got a community there that’s absolutely devastated,” he said.

“So my thoughts are with the community and I’m really, you know, in the next few days, I hope to be able to support both the family and the community.”

Tane, a Kaipara councillor, will be freeing up his diary to do so.

“My sort of position is is very clear and it’s around dog owner responsibility and what that responsibility means and how we need to ensure that dog owners act in a more responsible manner,” he said.

“Because this has occurred, and it has occurred throughout New Zealand over the past 20 years and that and I think it’s really important that we need to make sure that dog owners understand and know what their responsibilities are, and two, we need to be checking and ensuring that there is compliance to those responsibilities.”

A dog seen roaming in Kaihu on Monday evening. Not related to the attack.
Photo: RNZ

Tane said people should alert authorities immediately about any uncontrolled dogs in neighbourhoods and communities.

“Compliance officers should attend and act accordingly to these situations,” he said.

After the attack a local told RNZ the dogs had been at the property for about a year.

“There’s been so many complaints about them in the last year – the council know and haven’t done anything.

“They run out onto the road all the time. I was really scared about that and somebody getting hurt,” they said.

At least two dogs in the community were notorious for chasing cars as well as cyclists on the Kaihu Valley Bike Trail.

The Kaipara District Council would not say if the dogs that attacked and killed the woman were known to animal control.

Local Government Minister Simon Watts is asking officials for urgent advice after the death.

He said the Department of Internal Affairs is woking on the issue with local councils to improve dog control.

Watts expected new guidelines in the second half of this year.

Kaipara District mayor Jonathan Larsen called the death tragic and a sad situation for the families.

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