The 2-year-old mastiff-cross following the first recorded attack. This photo was taken by Hamilton Animal Control just four months before it attacked an 8 year old girl in Hastings. Photo: Supplied via LDR
This story includes a graphic image and discusses graphic details of a dog attack.
A mum wants changes to improve controls for dangerous dogs, after her child lost part of her lip when a menacing dog bit her on the face at a Hastings property.
The 2-year-old mastiff cross dog had attacked another person in Hamilton just four months earlier, and Hamilton City Council ordered its owner to neuter, muzzle and leash it when out in public.
Records show the dog, Leo, had attacked a member of its owner's family - also biting her on the face, and they also suggested the dog had previously attacked another child in Taupō.
After the attack on Poppy (not her real name), who was 8 years old at the time, the dog was seized by Hastings District Council and euthanised. The owner was prosecuted.
The attack on Poppy was classed by the council as a 34 out of 35, in degree of seriousness, with 35 being death.
The owner was sentenced to 80 hours of community work and banned from owning dogs for five years.
Poppy's mother Katie Mines is calling for better collaboration between councils to ensure orders to control dangerous dogs are followed.
Hamilton City Council said it was satisfied the appropriate processes and actions were taken.
The attack
Mines was preparing dinner on a summer's evening in 2020 while her daughter Poppy played next door.
"There was yelling and screaming coming from the house where my daughter was," Mines said.
"I just ran ... but when I got there Poppy had gone. There were just two women and a dog there."
Mines said the women were inconsolable and pacing backward and forwards.
"They kept saying they were sorry, but I didn't know for what. I kept asking 'where is Poppy?'. Finally, they told me she had been taken to hospital."
Heart pounding, and in her pyjamas, Mines rushed to the hospital. "I didn't know if she was dead or alive."
Poppy (not her real name) was left with horrific injuries after a dog attack in December 2020. Photo: Supplied via LDR
She arrived to find her daughter with a large bandage on her face and being assessed by a doctor.
"Poppy was just sitting there quietly, her school uniform covered in blood. She was in shock."
The dog had bitten her in the face, right on her lips.
"Nearly her entire top lip was torn off. It was horrific, but I couldn't react, I didn't want to scare her."
She was flown to Wellington Hospital for emergency surgery, but part of her top lip, which had been stored in a zip-lock bag, was not able to be reattached.
Four years later
Mines is still trying to come to terms with the fact the dog had attacked before.
Recently she requested documents under official information laws from Hastings and Hamilton councils. She said the information both angered and saddened her.
Documents showed that Hastings District Council had impounded the dog, and in its notice to the owner wrote: "HDC believes that the release of the dog would threaten the safety of any person, stock, poultry, domestic pet or protected wildlife".
"If Hamilton City Council had taken the same action just four months earlier, Poppy would still have lips and she would still be smiling," Mines said.
"She doesn't like smiling now because the inside of her lip shows. She recently came home with school class photos and was really upset about the individual ones.
"She also would not need to be facing further surgery."
Hamilton attack: Council satisfied with action taken
Hamilton City Council Safety and Resilience Unit director Kelvin Powell said they were satisfied the appropriate processes and action were taken following Leo's attack of a family member in August 2020.
"Our team thoroughly investigated the incident and Leo's background, including reaching out to several other councils where he was understood to have spent time previously," Powell said.
The investigations showed no recorded history of aggression, he said.
"Given the circumstances of the August 2020 incident within a closed family event, it was determined that the most appropriate action was to impound Leo, issue an infringement notice, and classify Leo as menacing."
Dogs classified as menacing are required to be desexed under the Hamilton dog control bylaw.
However, Leo returned to Hastings shortly after the incident, where desexing is not a requirement of menacing classified dogs.
Desexing helps to reduce the dog's urge to roam, however, it does not reduce its level of aggression, Powell said.
"Therefore, even if the desexing of Leo had occurred following August 2020, it is unlikely to have made an impact on the incident in Hastings in December 2020, which occurred at a private address and not while the dog was roaming.
"We acknowledge the significant impact that the December 2020 dog attack has had," Powell said.
'Laughing her way through the system'
Mines believes the dog owner's movements suggested she was "laughing her way through the system".
The owner was ordered to neuter, leash and muzzle the dog after the Hamilton attack, but none of that was done when it attacked Poppy just four months later in Hawke's Bay, she said.
"Nobody followed through. What is the point of all that paperwork if no one follows through?"
Mines claimed that less than two years after the attack she saw the dog owner with two large dogs, off the lead.
Hastings District Council regulatory solutions manager John Payne said they contacted the woman after receiving multiple reports of her being seen with dogs.
"She advised us that she had been looking after two dogs but had returned them to their owner.
"When asked for details she provided information that corroborated this. The dogs were registered to another person," Payne said.
"We reminded her that under the current disqualification, she is not permitted to have any dogs in her care. She apologised and assured us it won't happen again."
Hastings currently has 149 dogs classified as menacing - 83 have been desexed and 66 are pending.
"Only a judge can order the destruction of a dog, or an owner can arrange to destroy their dog, or they can surrender the dog to us," Payne said.
'She's strong and determined'
Mines said police have told her they could not do anything about a dog attack because there was no motive and it was a matter for councils.
"I just don't want anyone else to go through this," she said.
"Despite what Poppy has been through she is an amazing little person. After it happened she went to school with bandages on her face, she had to use a straw to eat and couldn't talk properly. That's a huge thing for a kid to go through.
"Recently she was preparing for a speech day at school. I sat with her to talk about ideas.
"I said 'darling, are you going to talk about what happened to you?'
"She said no, it was her business, and she didn't want anyone feeling sorry for her. That speaks volumes about who she is.
"I'm so proud of her. She was on the school council last year and will be head girl this year. She's strong and determined."
Poppy has been spending time in the US with her dad and recently had a consultation about future surgery. That will have to wait until she is fully grown - the impacts of the attack following her into adulthood.
- LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
