DOG KILLED IN MORNING HUNT

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 31921, 24 February 1969, Page 1

DOG KILLED IN MORNING HUNT

After a week of searches through scrub in the Ashley riverbed and all-night vigils over sheep flocks, farmers in the Loburn area have destroyed the large Alsatian dog which harassed their sheep for a month.

In its first known attack since early last Monday morning, the dog killed three sheep and savaged others on the Okuku property of Mr C. S. Lancaster on Friday night. About 10 of the savaged sheep had to be destroyed. Mr Lancaster was awakened when his sheep were being worried by the dog. About 5 a.m. he telephoned Mr A. C. W. Mclntosh, a member of the Ashley County Council, who was co-ordinator of farmers taking part in the hunt for the dog. A thick fog lay over Loburn early in the morning, so a search was not begun until about 8.30 a.m., when light aircraft were used to spot the dog. More than 40 armed Loburn farmers and local residents gathered at the Barkers Road shingle pit, while others from the Fernside side of the Ashley River prepared to cut off the dog’s retreat into dense scrub on the south bank. The first line ot shooters had moved into position in the riverbed, and the second was preparing to, when a farmer on a water tank on I the terrace above the river sighted the dog running out of the riverbed into open country.

The dog apparently had

been frightened by one of the aircraft. It had run across Mr W. D. Kennedy’s property and Barkers Road before it was sighted by a truck-load of shooters on the property of Mr E. M. Gibson. Struck by a .22 bullet and pellets from a shotgun blast, the dog fell to the ground. However, as a hunter approached, it got up and ran off. covering two paddocks before being stopped completely. Before it was shot, the dog had covered a great distance. The sheep it savaged on Friday night were near the Okuku bridge, while the dog was sighted next morning at the Makerikeri River, and was heading upstream again when it was flushed out of the Ashley riverbed. The dog had a leather collar with a double row of silver studs. There was a name tag also, but this had no marks. The dog and its collar were handed to the Rangiora police. Because of the unusual nature of the collar, it may be possible to trace the dog’s owner. “Everybody did a good I job,” said Mr Mclntosh, expressing the appreciation of farmers to Airwork (New Zealand), Ltd, for the aircraft, and to the many per- : sons who assisted In the hunt.