Blind Low Vision New Zealand is now reluctant to place guide dogs in South Auckland due to roaming dog attacks. File photo. Photo: 123RF
Sight-impaired people living in the Southern Auckland could miss out on a guide dog after a savage attack on a handler and his guide dog.
Blind Low Vision New Zealand said there had been several incidents, including a roaming dog attack last year that saw one of its clients taken to hospital and the guide dog relocated out of Auckland.
It is now reluctant to place guide dogs in South Auckland.
Blind Low Vision head of guide dogs Pete Hoskin told Checkpoint it was having a significant impact on the independence of their clients.
"This has been an increasing problem over the last two years with no real trigger that we're able to put it down to, but what we're experiencing on a daily and weekly basis is a number of events that are causing us to redeploy our resources across different parts of Tamaki Makaurau."
A handler and dog were attacked last year, he said.
"He subsequently ended up being in hospital and as a result of the treatment had an allergic reaction to the medication. That was a result of the infection from the dog bite and subsequently spent eight weeks in the hospital requiring a couple of blood transfusions.
"The dog still is working and is working very well, but that's not to say that if it was ever put in a situation where it was sprung by another dog, that it would be able to work effectively after that."
He said the situation was made worse for clients, as they could not necessarily see or identify the risk before it was right before them.
"The incidents that are occurring to able bodied people within Tamaki-Makaurau, one yesterday in the botanical gardens, a four-year-old killed a couple of months ago, they've got the benefit of being able to see and hear.
"The vision impaired community don't have that benefit so they're not able to mitigate or minimise that risk."
Clients who were deaf and blind were also vulnerable, he said.
"[It] just exponentially creates that problem even further for them in the sense that they can't hear any dog approaching them."
He said with trainers, there had been seven incidents related to roaming dogs.
"Recently, we had one trainer [who] had two incidences in one week where other dogs have physically jumped out of moving vehicles down the main street and then chased them along the street where they've had to then jump into a shop."
Blind Low Vision were now reluctant to place dogs in South Auckland, he said.
"We do unfortunately have a client in South Auckland that we have said no to placing a dog to due to the severe risk of the environment that the community that the client is in."
He said the person had already been attacked twice in the area, while walking with a guide dog.
"With no reduction in the amount of dogs in that area and the increase in attacks in that area, that risk is too severe to place a dog."
They were investigating potential solutions with AI, although it was in its infancy, he said.
"I think there's a couple of things before technology. [We] fully support the release with the SPCA and the council around desexing.
"We [also] strongly advocate for some personal accountability. As owners of these dogs, ensuring that their dogs are secure at all times, whether that's in a vehicle or in their home environment, to prevent them from getting out into the community and causing this chaos."
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