WILD DOGS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22226, 28 September 1935, Page 5 (Supplement)

WILD DOGS

Several times lately reference has been made in the Herald to wild dogs or dingoes, that were seen in the early days of North Auckland. At the present time there are very few old pioneers left who liavo seen one of these dogs or had any experience of their doings, and for that reason I would like to relate my own experience. My father and mother, with six children and an uncle of mine, came to New Zealand in IS6O under tlio 40-acre land grant system and took up their land at Tc Arai, being the first settlers in tho eastern part of the district and adjoining tho Pakiri block, at that timo Maori land owned by the great Chief Te Iviri.

Soon after wo had got our whare built and settled down wo were annoyed by a dog that used to come every night about midnight and bark and howl, usually threo barks and then a long howl. As wo had no knowledge of thero being wild dogs, wo thought it was a stray Maori dog that had got lost. It became such a nuisance and frightened the children that they could get no sleep. My undo had brought from England with him a doublebarrelled gun, and bullet mould, so he got a piece of lead and made a bullet and loaded his gun tho night before. At tho usual time, midnight, a lovely bright moonlight night, the dog commenced his barking at tho back of the whare. My undo got out quietly and looked round the corner of the whare. Ho saw a white object about fifteen Yards away and fired at it. With a yelp and spring in the air it mado a bolt down tho hill into a clump of kauri bush about threo hundred yards Next morning my uncle and I tracked it by a few drops of blood into the bush and there we found it dead. It was a very pretty animal on short legs and a fox-like head with prominent eyes and sharp-pointed ears and a bushy tail, a yellow white in colour. Sometime after that a settler at Te Arai Point was continually finding dead sheep with very little appearance of being worried by dogs; tlie only wounds were a few teeth marks in tho neck liko shot marks. The owner of the sheep at that time, not being aware of wild dogs in tho country, thought it was a neighbour who was responsible for the death of the sheep. Between the Pakiri bush and Te Arai Point are several miles of sandhills. Our home was about two miles from these sandhills and we often used to tako a run down to the surf beach, having to cross about half a milo over these sandhills. W T o often saw dog tracks travelling over the soft sand from the bush toward Te Arai Point, and in another place would see tracks travelling in tho opposite direction. About a year later another settler had a bush clearing about a mile to the south of our farm at To Arai and adjoining the Pakiri block. He bought about twenty-five sheep and a week or two later to his surprise found fourteen of them lying dead with very little sign of being worried by dogs. The owner of the sheep told my father he could have the sheepskins and wool if ho cai'ed to skin them. I remember going with my father to skin them and the only sign of worry-

ing was a few teeth marks in tho neck the same as those found at 'lo Arai Point. It appears that the dog would get a grip of tho throat and hold on till tho sheep was dead and then let go and catch another one in the same way. As no part of the carcase < was ever eaten by the dogs it was epiite evident the worrying them was for pure sport. After that wo heard dogs barking one afternoon in the Pakiri bush. My father poisoned somo meat oflal with stijchninc and sent my brother and I about two miles away to lay the poison in what we used to call the "big bush range," where wo had heard the dogs barking a few days before. We laid it in two or three places about ton chains in the bush, at the side of tho track. A few weeks later when cattle hunting I found the skeleton of .1 dog not far from where we laid the poison, and another settler found another one. That is now about 72 years ago, and it was the last time any wild dogs were known in tho district. —HENRY BROWN. 2 Green Lane.