MARTIN DE RUYTER
The High Court has dismissed an appeal by a dog owner over an incident at Cable Bay, north of Nelson.
A Nelson dog owner has lost a High Court appeal against the destruction of her dog that bit another at Cable Bay. Donna Mary Newlands had appealed against a destruction order issued by a district court judge after the 2018 incident where her American pitbull cross Baloo bit a 13-year-old papillon dog, which later died. She argued that the incident did not qualify as an attack, and that Baloo had picked up the other dog in his mouth and “put her to one side”.
Judge Chris Tuohy summed up the facts of the incident, which happened on December 17, 2018, near Pepin Island in Nelson. Newland’s dog Baloo, an american pitbull/cross, had ended up biting a 13-year-old papillon called Jasmine, who had been at the beach with her owner’s family. While witnesses had differing accounts over how the incident occurred, Jasmine suffered bleeding after being bitten on her back leg by Baloo. Newlands said Baloo had responded to being harried by Jasmine, picking her up in his mouth and putting her down to one side. However, the other dog owner s daughter said she had to struggle to pull Jasmine’s leg out of Baloo’s mouth.