Dogs have a short day at the beach

The popular Ngawi campsite has been chosen as the only one of five South Wairarapa beach campsites where dog owners can take their dogs through the coming summer until Easter.

After years of bans on all dogs on its campsites, the South Wairarapa District Council is to open Ngawi Reserve as an experiment.  

At the end of the “open dog door” period, animal control officials will submit a formal report on the impacts, costs and benefits of the trial.

As the council has only two dog control officers, with a large stretch of territory to patrol and police, council officials warned they have insufficient resources to stretch to Ngawi Reserve _ some 63 kilometers from Martinborough, and 136 km from Wellington.

Two local councillors noted their concerns about potential dog attacks at the remote site, but councillors formaly agreed to the five month trial. 

The decision came as part of SWDC adopting a new dog control policy and marked the only significant change.