Man watches his dogs attack and kill protected seal for 30 minutes, officials say
A man has been fined and ordered to euthanize his dogs after he was accused of allowing them to fatally attack a protected seal species on a New Zealand beach, officials say.
The Tasman man was walking with his retriever/labrador cross and a German shepherd/Siberian husky cross on Sept. 7 on the Kina Beach, according to an Oct. 16 news release from the New Zealand Department of Conservation.
Dogs are allowed to walk off-leash on the beach, considered a “designated dog exercise area,” but as the two dogs approached a kekeno, or fur seal, the man didn’t call his pets, officials said.
Instead, the dogs began “attacking the animal and causing wounds to its neck and head,” according to the release.
“The attack continued for about 30 minutes, despite the owner being nearby,” officials said.
A beachgoer noticed the attack, according to the release, and called police who went to the beach to confront the dog owner.
The owner told police “by the time he got to the seal it was badly injured and he thought it was more humane to let the dogs continue their attack so the seal’s suffering would end sooner.”
Under the Dog Control Act, the man was sentenced to pay a $2,000 fine, or about $1,150 U.S. dollars, and orders were made for the dogs to be euthanized, according to the release.
“We know no dog owner wants their pet to attack kekeno or other native wildlife, but it’s the owner’s responsibility to keep their dog under control, even in unleashed dog exercise areas,” biodiversity ranger Dirk de Vries said in the release. “Ideally dog owners would not get into a scenario in which their dog is attacking native wildlife in the first place. If you’re at the beach or out naturing, keep your dog under effective control, stay alert and watch for wildlife, and if you think there is wildlife in the area, put your dog on a lead.”
There have been 75 reported dog attacks on seals and sea lions in New Zealand since September 2020, according to the release.
New Zealand fur seals can reach up to 8 feet long for males and 5 feet long for females, and they are found on the rocky shores of the country’s mainland as well as around the Chatham Islands and across larger bodies of water in South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania.
There were an estimated 200,000 fur seals in New Zealand in 2001, but that number has not been updated despite officially expecting the number to now be higher.
Fur seals can sometimes appear in backyards, drains or streets as they are able to travel significant distances, but are best left alone, officials say.
Kina Beach is near Motueka on the northern coast of New Zealand’s southern island.
