The owner of the dog that attacked and killed an elderly Maltese dog at The Heads in Whakatāne last month has been found and issued with infringements.

No prosecution is planned.

The dead dog's owner, 83-year-old John Whiteley, has since been told the dog responsible for the attack on his pet has been destroyed.

He saiys he has seen no evidence of this but is just relieved the dog is no longer in town.

On July 17, the 13-year-old Maltese known as Buddy was sitting at his owner’s heel when he was attacked by a large, black dog, with no collar at Te Hau Tutua Park. Buddy received injuries that resulted in him having to be put down.

Whakatāne District Council’s dog control team investigated the attack, and visited Mr Whiteley to tell him that they had found the owner who had admitted it was her dog, however, the dog had already been taken out of town.

“She said she gave it to her brother, a Mongrel Mob member, to take it out to the farm to destroy it,” Mr Whitely said.

“They checked on him and he told them that he had put it down. All they can do is take his word for it, really.”

Mr Whiteley says he feels the council has done its best, and though he has trouble believing that the dog has been put down, he's not prepared to push the matter any further.

“I had a think about it, but it really is hard to trace. You can’t blame the council man; he’s done his best. He’s put a lot of time into it. At least she admitted that it was her dog. That’s the main thing.”

The council staff member informed Mr Whiteley the woman had no money to pay a fine but asked him if he wanted to pursue a charge against her anyway.

“I said no. What’s the point. It’s just a waste of the council’s and the court’s time. They will just let her off anyway because she hasn’t got any money. We just need to put it behind us. I only hope it doesn’t happen to someone else, or a kid.”

Council team leader regulation monitoring Verna Kinney says following the attack, the animal control team increased patrols in the area and began its investigation.

This work ended with the successful identification of the offending dog and enforcement action being taken against the owner.

“Our animal control team acted quickly from the moment we received the formal complaint. We were fortunate to have solid evidence provided to us which allowed further action to be taken,” says Ms Kinney.

She says under the Dog Control Act 1996, the council could deal with such incidents in several ways, including warnings, infringements, and prosecution.

“The council cannot order a dog to be put down – only the courts can do this.

“When we consider what type of enforcement, we look at a range of factors including future public safety, the outcome of a court prosecution or the view of the complainant.

“In this case, the dog owner was issued with infringements and has taken voluntary action to euthanise the dog.”

The positive identification of the dog and owner wasn’t without its fair share of hurdles thanks to misinformation circulating on social media.

“Though we got the result we all wanted relatively quickly, there was unhelpful commentary doing the rounds on several community social media pages by people thinking they were ‘doing the right thing’ in trying to identify the dog and owner responsible.”

“Not only did this false narrative result in a person being incorrectly accused as the dog owner, but it also took up valuable staff time,” says Ms Kinney.

While social media had its place, it could also impede, and hinder investigations if the wrong information was being circulated.

“Facebook commentary on community notice pages doesn’t carry the same weight in the legal system, and it can be difficult to secure a prosecution with only this to go on. I encourage people to please think carefully before posting online.”

Mr Whiteley is aware another person was mistakenly identified on Facebook as being the dog’s owner and is sorry about this.

“The wrong person was getting blamed, so I asked the council staff to apologise to her for me. Though it wasn’t my doing; I wasn’t the one that put it on social media.”

Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air.