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Are there too many dangerous dogs in New Zealand?

By MSN NZ
Monday, January 25, 2010
A five-year-old girl is lucky to be alive after she was savagely attacked by two pitbulls near Whakatane last weekend
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A five-year-old girl is lucky to be alive after she was savagely attacked by two pitbulls near Whakatane and a three-year-old girl almost lost an eye after being attacked by a pitbull terrier in Wairoa.

The attacks, last weekend, brought the number of serious dog maulings to three in the last week.

Yesterday MSN NZ polled more than 6000 people and found that 83 per cent were in favour of banning pitbulls from New Zealand.

The little girl was taken to Waikato Hospital where doctors performed 10 hours of extensive surgery after she suffered serious facial and head injuries. She is now in a stable condition.

Her mother was also attacked as she dived on her daughter's body to protect her.

It is understood the two were attacked when they were visiting a neighbour who let the dogs — a female pitbull and male pitbull mastiff-cross — out of their kennel.

The attack took place on Morrison Rd in Taneatua, about 13km south of Whakatane in the eastern Bay of Plenty.

The dogs were later destroyed.

On Sunday, a three-year-old girl had to have 20 stitches in her face and almost lost an eye after being attacked by a pitbull terrier in Wairoa.

Only days before, former All White Stu Jacobs was mauled after stepping in to stop a bull mastiff-cross attacking a man and his labrador at Rongotai College in Wellington.

Jacobs was teaching soccer to more than 20 children — including his two young daughters — when he was attacked.

He was bitten on his ankle, forearm and hand, and required 37 stitches.

In April 2007, 56-year-old Virginia Ohlson died after being attacked by a pitbull and a staffordshire-cross.

The dog belonged to her nephew, Murupara man Shane Joseph Rurehe, who was sentenced to 18 months' jail.

Are there too many dangerous dogs in New Zealand? What should be done to prevent these maulings? Have your say below.

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User comments
In reply to Rip, Manawatu. A Golden Retriever, like any other breed of dog, may bite a person, but how often have you heard of someone being mauled or even killed by one? They are a very common breed of dog & are seen as very approachable. People tend to forget that like any other breed of dog they should be approached correctly & with the owners permission.
Unfortunately any dog can be dangerous, but for me I worry more about the majority of owners of pitbulls in the South Waikato, who have little to no respect for them selves or the Community they live in. Who parade the dogs as a penile enhancers and have little basic understanding or training of dogs. Who enjoy intimidating and frightening others. Could we possibly see to these people being put down, they would be no loss to Society, and would actually save us time money and resources.
Do people seriously still believe that there are 'dangerous dog breeds'?? EVERY animal can cause a human harm. It's up to the humans to treat the animals with repect and decency to avoid the animal having to protect itself from us humans. We are so cruel to them, and then they get blamed for our torment on them! These dogs, as puppies get no 'positive' socailisation with other dogs and humans only negative & agressive socilisation! Hence the beginnings of a so called 'dangerous breed dog.' Here's some info most people dont know - The breed that has biten the most humans is in fact the Golden Retriever!! And the most dangerous dog is the Dachshund!! You can Google it! Maybe as kids we should all be trained how to treat dogs aswell as training the dog!!
I think that dogs like pitbulls should really be banned as they are very aggressive.
figure of speech. really.. there arent bad dogs. just bad people who bring them up, so the dogs think its 'good' to ..attack. honestly, out've all the stories i've heard about dog attacks in NZ, they have all been pitbulls. again, they have been brought wrong. i know numerous pitbulls that are wicked to play with etc. and one of them even LOVES to play with the kids. we CANT ban a dog from our country for being raised bad. just find a way to stop selling them (etc) to shifty owners, and to people from extremely shifty places. no offence. straight up.. if raised NORMAL..a chawawa..those little rat-of-a-dog things are more dangerous than the pitbull.
There are more dangerous dogs '2 legged ones' in our society than the animal itself. The dog bites, it gets destroyed, a human being kills, maims another, gets sent to jail to have a good life..on me the tax payer's money.
I am a owner of a pitbull. I live in a area where a house gets robbed every second. In the ten years that I have had my pitbull one look from the people that want to rob my house they tend to turn the other way. In someways I still have at the back of my head (WHAT IF). Reality check people it really depends on how you bring up your dog. And as for the lady that let her 2 dogs out of the kennel come on. When I have other kids come to my place I always put my dog away regardless just incase. Pitbulls are likely to kill but they make the best guard dogs. Reality Check people, all dogs bite regardsless of what breed they are!!!!
With many of these dogs it doesn't matter how much training you give them OR their owners. They have an instinct that will kick in one day. The most placid "Family Pet" has been know to attack. All identified dangerous breeds should be BANNED from NZ.
We cannot be certain that people will train these potentially dangerous breeds therefore these breeds shuld be banned altogether. There's no problem if there's no dog.
Most people will say one or the other needs to be put down. Whoever's fault it is, only the people who saw it know. Who else is going to believe them when the Media say the opposite. Or you hear a rumour or someone else's opinion of the attack. The owner should definitely not be put down, That's 'human cruelty'. The dog who made this attack should indeed be put down if it is a threat to people. Vicious dogs should at least undergo some training before they get given to the new owners or they shouldn't be allowed in this country. If the dog needs to get put down the owner should have to make a decision, either to have it removed from the country, get training or be put down, Everyone needs their own say. Dog's are people too. They need to have some reason to go an attack someone. If their are vicious dogs in New Zealand then they need to be kept in a backyard or on a leash with a mouth guard, away from people (especially children), unless they know the dog well and ?can handle them.

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