Two menacing dogs are thought to be behind a spate of fatal and serious attacks on pets in the middle of the night in Woodville.

Tararua District Council says the dogs are reportedly pit bulls, which are considered dangerous dogs and are required to be desexed as well as on a lead and muzzled when out in public.

Regulatory services manager James Single said they had been receiving reports of the roaming dogs and attacks since the New Year, but he was unsure if the two reported were the only ones involved.

He said it appeared the dogs were unregistered and a photo had shown the dogs had no collars.

It is an offence under the Dog Control Act to not display a tag for any registered dog.

The council had received multiple reports of pets being seriously injured or killed following the attacks.

While reported attacks seemed to be happening late at night, or in the early hours of the morning, Single said he couldn’t say for sure if the dogs weren’t roaming all the time.

He said council had been working for months trying to identify or locate the dogs and had acted on search warrants to seize dogs.

 “We’re pulling out every string in our bow.”

Council was following up on every lead and using dog traps in the hope of finding the dogs.

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Single said the owners needed to take responsibility for their dogs.

Under the Dog Control Act, failure to control a dog can attract a maximum fine of $3000.

Under that same act, if the dog seriously injured a person, the owner could receive a fine of up to $20,000 and a sentence of three years imprisonment.

In a report given to the council Community Development and Wellbeing Committee this week, it was noted that there were 6704 known dogs in the Tararua District.

Of that total, 6596 were registered, leaving 108 unregistered.

In the report, there were 22 dog attacks reported between July 2022 and the end of March 2023, with seven of those on humans.

Single said, on the whole, there were some good dog owners in the district, but there were a small few who weren’t.

Those who had any information as to the whereabouts of the dogs, or who had seen them roaming in Woodville were asked to immediately contact the council.