A dog killed all my chickens [CHCH]

[Sarah Gallagher]

Two days ago we had a local dog enter our property and kill our four chickens. I'm devastated and angry.

Animal Control have been very helpful but because the dog was not witnessed killing them we have no recourse which is incredibly frustrating.

I saw the dog on the property sometime after the chickens had been killed and chased it away over a 6 foot fence. I suspect it was on a return trip to grab another bird (1 is still missing). The dog was unregistered.

I'd hate for anyone else to experience this. We've lost our pets, incurred damage to plants and fencing, not to mention out of pocket for chickens and eggs. I encourage everyone to call your local Animal Control if you see dogs wandering. You never know what they may be up to.

It was made clear to me by Animal Control that clear evidence is needed to prove a dog's involvement.

Dog control offenses (includes attacks on poultry)
http://www.ccc.govt.nz/homeliving/petsanimals/ownerresponsibilities/dogcontroloffences.aspx

Reporting a problem dog
http://www.ccc.govt.nz/homeliving/petsanimals/reportingaproblemdog.aspx

[e-mail]
03 941 8666

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[Derek & Julie Craig]

Hi Sarah,
Dog attacks are very common. My small flock at work loses a chicken every 6 months to dog attack - and the whole flock was wiped out when someone let their dog loose in our coop. If you can grab the offending animal, don't let go until animal control turns up. Generarly they are very keen to impound killer dogs as dead chickens today could mean children attacked tomorrow. There is no set "chicken Killer' dogs, most of the attacks at work have been supposedly well mannered terriers or retrievers - usually with an ineffective owner flapping around behind the dog as it chases down our chickens. I absolutely do not accept that a dog is just acting naturally when it slaughters your chickens. A domestic dog should be trained and controled, anything less shows the owner is a poor owner a should be relieved of their dog.

[Jenny Freewalker]

Hi Derek, l agree with your comments about domestic dogs. lf we lived in a country that has wild predators eg England where they have foxes to contend with then you take precautions for that. Here we don't have wild predators and dogs are supposed to be kept under control AT ALL times. lf the dog is unregistered you can report it to the council and they will move on that issue regardless of the other problem. That may help to some degree as most councils are quite tough on registration. Also l guess it makes a difference where you live as councils and people are different in different areas.

[Lynda Coe]

Hi there,
Sorry to hear about your babies being attacked. It brought back memories for me. About ten years ago, I arrived home and found a large dog from down the road munching on my prized silkey rooster. He was a family pet and the sight of it distressed my 4 year old. This was happening next door, but the dog didn't belong to them. I could see the rooster was past being rescued, so rushed in side, called animal control and took photos of what was happening.

Animal control attended, said that they looked at the dog from down the road, and didn't think that it had attacked my rooster because it looked un fed. But it must have been a dog from up the road that looks the same.

That was garbage, there was no dog from up the road, but could I prove that? The animal control woman, was having an affair with the brother of the owner of the dog at the time, and didn't want to offend them. There are lots of horror stories of dogs and animal control in our regeon that go back a long time. But I'm sure it is no reflection on animal control as a whole.

[Megan Cook]

I got home two and a half weeks ago to find one of our four hens had been left for dead by a dog (distressed owner had chased small dog and made it leave little red hen). She wasn't though, so i took her to the vet who wanted to put her down. I started crying! We got the hens as day olds, and they're pets as well as egg layers. Anyway, I went back the next day, to find that lrh had survived the night. I had to keep her inside; in our tiny flat my bedroom is the only cat/child free, warm place. After 10 days (medication and washing her wounds twice a day), I put her back out with the flock. She's laying again! Not every day, but three in a week, so doing okay. Now the run is fort knox and I don't let them free range unless I'm right there with them.

I talked to animal control here (wgtn) and they said that if the dog was found then it wouldn't be put down - not for an attack on a hen... it would be declared a dangerous dog and made to wear a muzzle.

[Karen Kent]

wow that's an awful thing to happen. my condolences.

[Sarah Gallagher]

Thanks everyone for your replies.

My property is surrounded by high fences and I guess the dog came in through the open gate and down long drive. When we're home we leave the gate open. Not any more. I know dogs are predators and will go for chickens but the real issue is that dog was wandering the streets alone and happens to be unregistered. The chooks were in their run, not free ranging the property. I feel bad because the reason we wanted to have chickens was to look after the animals that were producing our eggs, knowing we'd given them a good life.

I'm definitely keeping my eye on that dog and intend to send a letter to the owners letting them know how this had affected us. Kali - so sorry to hear of your experience, an attack on a child is unconscionable.

[Daniel Andrews]

one of mine was savaged by a dog not long after we first got them the chickens got through the fence and were free ranging in the neighbors yard with the dogs in went over the fence and ran at the dog and it droped the bird but it died two days later we had to reason that the birds were in their yard and had intruded on their territory and we did not want to have bad relations with our neighbours we put the incident down to experience and the fence has since been shoard up. The birds were chased back under the fence one didnt appear again till two days later as it had gone into hiding.
We often have random dogs that come down a very long driveway and have chased them of i think the best thing to do is talk to the owner if you can find them, but you will often get responses like why are you keeping chickens in the city for? My response is why are you keeping a dog for it should be on a farm not locked up all day. If they persist say matter of factually if your dog touches my chickens il have it distroyed!! that will make them crap them selves and walk off

[thegardener007]

There's a part of me that wants to question what we have become that we allow predators to steal our means of feeding ourselves and talk about getting cameras or say shoo.

There's a part of me that wants to take up arms and rid myself of the problem. It kinda sounds like "I didn't climb this far up the f------g food chain to take f-----g photos."

And then there's the gentle side of me that says "the dogs are just being dogs and I have to live with that and bear the cost of building better fences if I want to keep chickens in a world full of wondrous diversity."

That's not about bad and wrong about what everyone is saying. I just wanted to get real honest about how I feel and the thoughts that go through me over it. I've had good chickens stolen too.

[Kali]

Its a sickening feeling for sure. If you can prove what dog it was, the dog can be ordered to be destroyed, I think it is important to notify dog control of any incident, if it attacks chickens, after all, if it does that what is next? I warned my neighbours that their dog had been over here after my chickens and they just fobbed me off, in total denial, next thing I know my son is attacked and bitten by that dog and this time I took action and it was ordered to be destroyed, bad neighbourly relations resulted and they still have unruly dogs but at least that one is off the streets. You definately have to be really careful where you let chickens free-range too, even though the onus is on the dog's owner to keep their dog restrained or fenced in you know that some are irresponsible and that dogs have minds of their own.

[Jules Jules]

That's terrible news, I'm so sorry for you. I can only think that if it was me and I still had my chooks, that my instinct would be to shoo the dog(s) away to save any further loss of life/injury rather than run inside to get the camera.