Auckland Council has defended its decision to euthanise a roaming pit bull after people offered to home the dog.
The pitbull was found by Auckland police on January 18 and taken to the Manukau pound, which resulted in it being euthanized has sparked public outrage.
Saving Hope Foundation Co-founder Janine Hinton offered to take the dog aware of its unlikely survival but she said the pound said no.
"They said no it's council policy because he is a pit bull, he will be euthanised."
"I said to the pound I have 60 thousand followers on Facebook and I'm going to find the owner," Hinton added.
Jesse Thompson came across Hinton's Facebook post and realised it could have been his brother's dog or even a dog he may have sold from a litter.
"I was parked up with money ready to get the dog out of the pound, we were there two hours early before it opened."
Thompson told Newshub after two hours of waiting for the Manukau pound staff to come and see him, he left for half an hour.
"As we were driving home the lady from the pound rang asking for evidence to prove it was my dog."
Thompson couldn't provide evidence that the dog was his and by the time Thompson returned to the pound he was told it was too late.
"It broke my heart, right there and then I didn't know what to do."
Manager Animal Management Elly Waitoa told Newshub they couldn't hand over the dog to anyone who came forward because evidence hadn't been provided to prove it was theirs.
"Those who came forward were without evidence and could not provide details such as the dog’s name or age."
Waitoa said after failing to find the dogs owner the pound is required to follow the Dog Control Act.
"Which automatically classifies dogs that are wholly or predominantly made up of these breeds as menacing, no matter how they behave individually."
These breeds include:
- American Pit Bull Terrier
- Brazilian Fila
- Japanese Tosa
- Dogo Argentino
- Perro de Presa Canario
Hinton shared with her Facebook followers that the dog had been euthanised, a lot of them were devastated.
"I am in tears, basically this poor puppy has been murdered - I can't even read your post on this yet - my heart is broken for this poor puppy and its family," one person wrote.
"What an absolutely disgusting and horrific outcome. I can’t actually believe this could happen," another added.
“We understand that this has been an upsetting incident, and we empathise with those involved," Waitoa said.
"Pet owners please ensure their animals are microchipped and registered, so that incidents such as these do not occur," Waitoa added.
