Dog Attacks and Wandering on the Rise in Invercargill

Increased numbers of nuisance dogs has resulted in the Invercargill City dog control team having to rethink its strategies.

Group manager - consenting and environment Jonathan Shaw told the Community and Regulatory Committee on Tuesday that the increase in nuisance dogs was something they needed to be resolved - but more resources were required.

Councillors and staff attended a dog control workshop following the meeting to talk about how they can better deal with the issue.

Nuisance dogs were different to barking dogs - which can be described as loud and persistent, "and it can often be difficult to prove, but it can be identified, and generally involves more work and resource," Jonathan said.

In his annual dog control report, he talked about the rise in barking and wandering dogs, but noted there hadn't been as many lost and found, or needing to be euthanised.

"It's positive to see that number is down this year," he said.

Cr Ian Pottinger questioned how many of the 427 barking dog complaints had been resolved, adding that there had been concerns in the community that the process for reporting the issues was long winded, "and goes on forever."

Jonathan confirmed this is the area that they want to focus on in the workshop, "some of the team will be working on and moving on that quite rapidly."

There are currently 8761 registered dogs across the city and the dog control team has chosen to use a temporary resource to chase people up about being compliant.

Jonathan said it has been "exceptionally effective," in reminding people, before council has to take enforcement action.

He said unfortunately there have been a number of infringements this year, "and I suspect there are a large number still out there that haven't as of yet, registered them."

A total of 297 infringements were issued, compared to just 97 in the 2024/5 year, and the animal control team believes dog ownership in Invercargill has increased year on year.

The number of wandering dogs has increased from 520 to 626 and dog attacks have gone up from 65 to 97.