This website is a place where we can lobby on behalf of dogs. We can only hope to win support for our aims though if we dog owners take responsibility for our animals. We need to school them, socialise them, pick up after them and keep them away from endangered wildlife.

This kind of report doesn’t help our cause one little bit:

At least 14 endangered weka were killed last week by roaming dogs on Kawau Island in the Hauraki Gulf.

Department of Conservation (DOC) biodiversity manager Rory Renwick said the dogs were found in the grounds of Mansion House on Tuesday morning, with the dead weka, a peacock and a wallaby nearby.

The owner of the two dogs lost track of them when out walking, he said.

[Via : Dogs kill endangered wekas - environment | Stuff.co.nz, May 2009.]

It’s wonderful to be able to walk with dogs off-leash, but as the Department of Conservation say:

When enjoying a day in the park with your dog, please follow these simple guidelines:

• Keep your dog under control at all times, a dog out of sight is a dog out of control.
• Carry a leash and use it where required.

[Via : Dog walking: Activity Finder.]

DoC even list places where dogs are allowed off-leash.

New Zealand’s native birds are too precious to allow roaming dogs to reduce their numbers even further.

If you’re taking your dogs into areas where there are endangered native birds and animals keep the dogs on the lead. It’s hugely annoying, I know, but if keeping the dog on the leash is too onerous then don’t take it into those areas; pick somewhere else to go for a walk.

Weka photo © Copyright Antoine Hubert, and used under a Creative Commons licence.