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A Member of Parliament is vowing to find out why it took so long to remove three dogs that were seemingly abandoned in an unoccupied state house in east Auckland. The dogs were uplifted from the Kāinga Ora property in Bucklands Beach by police and staff from Auckland Council’s Animal Management team in April. Local residents believe the tenant who lived at the Bucklands Beach Road property had moved out in December last year. Someone had been feeding the dogs via open windows at the home. Photos taken of the scene at the time show several dogs looking out of the home’s windows. In one picture one of the dogs had its right front leg outside the window as if trying to escape. Another photo showing the inside of the house revealed a large amount of rubbish scattered around the floor of one room and two dogs visible, one of which appeared to be thin. Concerned residents had tried to get the SPCA, Animal Management and Kāinga Ora to take action to free the trapped dogs. It wasn’t until one resident, who wants to remain anonymous, phoned police that they were finally removed. Since then, police have revealed the case was referred to the SPCA, but it didn’t meet its threshold for prosecution. The resident has subsequently emailed people including Pakuranga MP Simeon Brown, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, SPCA chief executive Todd Westwood, and Labour Party Nelson MP Rachel Boyack to raise the situation. “It’s clear that neither the SPCA nor Auckland Council Animal Management have any authority in the welfare space,” she told them. “Therefore I would like to know what the plan is to ensure animal abuse rates in New Zealand decline, because if this case was deemed not worthy of prosecution, how are we to deter future offending?” Boyack, Labour’s spokesperson for animal welfare, has responded to the woman’s email, thanking her for alerting her to the “utterly dreadful situation”. “I am keen to follow up and find out why action wasn’t taken,” she said. “I will raise directly with the SPCA when I meet with them soon.” Boyack said she’s forwarded the email to her Labour Party colleague Jenny Salesa, who’s the party’s “buddy MP” for the Pakuranga electorate. “Between us we will raise with Auckland Council and Kāinga Ora as well, to find out what has happened,” Boyack said. “Thank you for your care and concern for our vulnerable animals. These cases are just awful.” The resident’s email to Pakuranga MP Simeon Brown was forwarded to Andrew Hoggard, the Government’s Associate Minister of Agriculture (Animal Welfare). Hoggard replied to her to say it would be inappropriate for him to comment on a specific case, but he’s considering the points she raised about whether the Animal Welfare Act gives appropriate powers to enforcement agencies to act where there are cases of abuse or neglect. “I will seek some advice from my officials on whether enforcement powers need to be strengthened and consider any potential changes in due course.” The Times sought comment on the situation from the SPCA. In a response, Alan Wilson, its national inspectorate manager, said: “The dogs were removed by the New Zealand Police and/or Auckland Council. “Any questions on prosecution or outcome should be directed at those agencies. “SPCA attended the property on a number of occasions between December, 2024, and March, 2025, to inspect the dogs. “The property and dogs had not been abandoned at any point during our involvement.” Kāinga Ora regional director central and east Auckland John Tubberty previously said the agency was unaware there were dogs left in the home, and no one had raised any concerns with it before the dogs were removed from the property. “It is completely unacceptable, and we are using the tools available under the Residential Tenancies Act to address this directly with the tenant.” Animal Management manager Elly Waitoa said the organisation was unable to contact the dogs’ owner. “These particular dogs were in poor health. They showed signs of concerning behaviour and this led to the decision to euthanise the three dogs, when the owner had not come forward after seven days.”
