Dog owner says weka deaths not his fault

The owner of a dog alleged to have killed 14 endangered weka says he did everything he could to keep the animal out of a nature reserve but he could not chase after it when it broke free because he had a bad back.

Donald Shepherd, 66, of Warkworth, north of Auckland, has pleaded not guilty in the Auckland District Court to four charges of allowing his two dogs to enter a controlled area and one of owning a dog that attacked and killed endangered wildlife.

In a recorded interview with a Department of Conservation (DOC) officer, Shepherd said he was "bloody horrified" when he found out his dog could have been responsible for killing 14 weka, a white peacock and a wallaby in the Kawau Island Historic Reserve in May last year.

He was fond of the weka on the island and had once brought a bird into his house to warm it up because it had become cold and disoriented by a storm.

It was the second time his dogs, a great dane-mastiff cross called Scooby and shih tzu called Patch, had entered the reserve. After their first escape, he installed an electric fence around his property to prevent it happening again. But on another occasion they ran off when he became engaged in an "earnest conversation" with some people while taking them for a walk.

"Because of my back I can't move very far so I just went up to the rocks and called out for them," he said.

When this didn't work he phoned a neighbour to ask them to keep an eye out and then went to bed.

The dogs were found by a DOC ranger on reserve grounds the next day, near to where the dead animals were found.

DOC principal compliance officer Richard Bray, who investigated the incident, told the court although forensic evidence could not prove that the dog killed the birds, circumstantial evidence was very strong that Scooby was the culprit.

Shepherd's property, Mr Bray said, was inadequately fenced to contain the dogs.

But Shepherd said he had made every effort to keep the dogs secure and people often commented on how concerned he was to make sure they did not break free.