Plea to keep dogs leashed after a spate of sheep attacks

A spate of dog attacks on sheep has led the Nelson City Council to put out a public plea for dog owners to keep their pets leashed when entering grazing areas.

Since October 2022, there have been 10 attacks on sheep that have led to three sheep and two lambs being killed. Five others have been injured.

Nelson City Council group manager community services Andrew White said the attacks had occurred at Sir Stanley Whitehead Park, the Grampians reserve and Wakapuaka Cemetery.

“There have been attacks like this in the past, but this spring and summer has been the worst that we have known for some time,” White said.

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“Generally when these attacks happen it takes the dog owners completely by surprise that their dog could act that way. The predator instinct can kick in on any dog breed.”

The sheep are not owned by the council.

White said that in 2016, the owner of the sheep pulled them out of the Grampians because of dog attacks.

This left the council without their normal method of controlling grass and weeds for around two years, and “created a significant concern around fire risk”.

White said that reserve areas were kept sparsely planted and open for a variety of reasons, such as firebreaks, views, arboretum areas, and fire risk management.

Many of these were large areas, with steep and challenging terrain that couldn’t be mowed and would be “dangerous, time inefficient and expensive” to maintain manually, but sheep were “easy, low maintenance, and very effective”.

If these areas were not maintained, they would quickly grow rank grass (tall, overgrown grass) up to the waist that in the summer will dry and be very risky fire fuel, he said.

“In periods of high fire risk, unmaintained grassy areas may be closed earlier to the public due to the fire risk to park users and neighbouring properties. So allowing sheep to graze on our reserves ensures we can keep the fire risk lower than it would otherwise be, enabling us to keep these reserves open for longer in the hot summer period.”

White said the council urged the dog owning public to “take notice of the signs and do the right things and help us keep these reserves safe for everyone”.

Areas where sheep are grazing in Nelson include: The Grampians, (in 10% of the reserve only as indicated by signage), Wakapuaka Cemetery, Sir Stanley Whitehead Reserve, areas of the Maitai Walkway, and the Paremata Flats Reserve.