Dog snatch elderly woman's beloved cat and maul it to death

NEW ZEALAND -- Pensioner Olive Saunders lost her companion of 14 years when a pair of dogs on a killing spree in Feilding mauled her cat.

Mrs Saunders' pet Mishka was taken by the throat on Monday morning by one of the dogs that has claimed five known victims in northern Feilding since late last month.

A red boxer and a dark-coloured huntaway are believed to be behind the attacks.

Manawatu District Council animal control officer Lesley Butler said the animals were still on the loose.

Mrs Saunders' cat was born on the first day of the millennium and had lived with her since she was 7 weeks' old.

A visibly upset Mrs Saunders said losing her beloved cat had been traumatic.

"It's just like losing a baby," she said. "I just don't know how I'm going to get on without her. She was just so beautiful, it's just a shock."

In her eighties, Mrs Saunders has two photo albums dedicated to Mishka, who she described as large, energetic and intelligent. Mrs Saunders could talk to her and she provided company for the widow.

"I wouldn't have another one now, it's a bit too late."

Her daughter Eunice Hughes said people needed to realise it wasn't just the pets affected by the killer dogs, their deaths also had an emotional impact on owners.

The incident happened outside Mrs Saunders' pensioner flat in Derby St just before 7am on Monday.

Her neighbour saw Mishka in the mouth of one of the dogs, which was running along the street followed by the other dog. From a distance she thought it could have been a baby as she chased the dogs, yelling at them to drop it.

"If she hadn't seen what happened I wouldn't have known where my cat had gone," Mrs Saunders said.

The cat was taken to the vet but had to be put down.

The council is warning people to keep pets inside as much as possible, especially at night and early morning until the dogs are caught.

This month's attacks have happened in Derby, York, Denbigh and Duke streets, all in the northern part of town.

It's been a bad few years for Feilding cats. The spate of killings comes three years after a pit bull-shar pei cross and a huntaway-mastiff cross killed nine cats in southern Feilding.

Those dogs were found after help from the public.

(Manawatu Standard - ‎Nov 26, 2013‎)

Woman 'covered in blood' after dog attack

NEW ZEALAND -- A Christchurch woman who routinely carried a protective stick when walking her dog never expected a dog attack so savage it would land her in hospital.

Rachel, who did not want her surname used, was walking her huntaway dog in Aranui last Wednesday night.

She was only five minutes from home when she passed a property with two pit bulls tied up outside; one tied on a chain, the other roped to a car.

The dogs had prompted calls to dog control from herself and other residents in the past over concerns they were not securely restrained.

"I walked past the property as I always do, and they usually both nut off  ... but as I stepped on to the road I heard a noise,'' she said.

"I turned around and this thing was just flying at us."

The pit bull latched on to the back of her dog and was "ripping him to bits".

Rachel was dragged to the ground in the attack, trying to force the dog away when it turned on her.

"I always carry a stick because there are a lot of dogs in that area, so I was hitting it with my stick. But this dog was just vicious; he was in for the kill," she said.

The dog scraped her face, ripped both sides of her lower lip, slashed her right hand, fractured a finger and left her "covered in blood".

An elderly woman passing by with her husband came to her aid, restraining the dog, while another passer-by managed to tear it away and force it back into its owner's yard.

After being treated by ambulance staff at the scene, Rachel was taken to hospital over fears she required surgery to her face.

Instead, she believed she and her dog both "got off lightly".

Rachel was X-rayed, received stitches to her lip and sent home.

Her dog is "covered in puncture wounds" and was slowly recovering at home after a 2am emergency operation.

The pit bull has been impounded by animal control.

Rachel said she would never walk her dog in the same area again.

"I'm quite frightened now. I don't see myself going back there,'' she said.

(Fairfax NZ News - July 23, 2013)

Attacking pit bull stabbed 8 times and hit twice with wood

NEW ZEALAND -- The bravery of a little girl and a pet dog marked a family's bloody weekend encounter with a savage pit bull in Whangarei.

John Williams said his family's Anzac Rd home was "like a slaughter-house" after large areas of it were covered in blood and dog feces as he stabbed the pit bull eight times in a bid to drive it away.




Kim is praised by John Williams. The family
pet showed her bravery when the family's
home was invaded by a pit bull terrier.
Photo / Ron Burgin

The invading animal was subdued only after a man was drawn to the scene by "horrific" noise and hit the pit bull on the head twice with a length of 6x2 timber.

About 1pm on Saturday when Mr Williams, his wife, Stacey Waipouri, her 5-year-old daughter Bella-Rose Waipouri-Globbits, and the couple's 8-month daughter Alaska-Dawn Williams-Waipouri were having lunch.

The pit bull slipped under the fence around their house and attacked the family's 9-year-old Huntaway* Kim in the porch outside the open door to the kitchen.

The Huntaway retreated into the kitchen, but once she realised the baby was on the floor she returned to the doorway and the pit bull's jaws.

Kim erupted with loud, agonised howls as she was bitten and Mr Williams grabbed "the biggest knife you've ever seen" to stab the pit bull eight times.

"Blood was going everywhere, but it never yelped and it never flinched.

It just kept going and going for my dog," he said.

In the midst of this frenzied battle, young Bella-Rose ran to pluck Alaska-Dawn from the floor and carried her to safety in a bedroom, shutting the door.

"I was frightened, but when I saw Alaska near the blood, that's when I knew I had to take her away," Bella-Rose said later.

The pit bull dragged Kim from the kitchen and porch to a deck in front of the house.

Ms Waipouri got a bite when she tried to help Mr Williams separate the animals.

The noise had one neighbour yelling for the couple to stop fighting.



Five-year-old Bella-Rose and baby Alaska-Dawn
photographed with family pet Kim.
Photo / John Stone

But a man visiting his wife's parents nearby came to see what the trouble was and gave the pit bull two cracks on the head with a heavy piece of timber.

He then kept a foot on the dog's head until police and an SPCA officer arrived.

The man's wife, who asked for the pair not to be named, said one of the two policemen who came described the blood-stained house as "a murder scene".

Mr Williams said the pit bull still had fight in it, despite all its injuries.

"I have never before seen an animal so determined to kill," he said.

SPCA duty officer Sunel Ferreira took both dogs away for examination by a veterinarian. The pit bull was put down because of its wounds and the huntaway was returned to the family after treatment for bruising and bites.

Ms Ferreira said the pit bull had no collar or other means of identification.

Mr Williams said he had needed 11 stitches in his hand when he received a bite from the pit bull when it attacked him while he was walking Kim about six months ago.

He didn't know who owned that pit bull.

He wanted them reported for having a dangerous animal.

"There's no place in our society for pit bulls," Mr Williams said. "If that dog had got hold of our baby she would be dead."

(The Northern Advocate - May 23, 2011)

* New Zealand Huntaway, New Zealand Header. There are more sheep per head of human population in New Zealand than in any other country on earth, about 45 million sheep. To have that many sheep requires a special type of dog to control them, such as the New Zealand Header and New Zealand Huntaway. The Huntaways tend to bark and chase the sheep away, the Headers bring the sheep back. They're called headers because they will go to the head of the sheep and turn them.

These New Zealand breeds were developed over the last 100 years by cross-breeding the Border Collie with other breeds including the Irish Setter, English Hound, Old English Sheepdog and Labrador. Dogs found on New Zealand stations today are considered purebreds by farmers. - Burke's Backyard website

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