At one time, wild dogs were very plentiful in some parts of New Zealand, especially on the east Coast of the North Island, and in Otago and Southland, where they did much damage amongst flocks of sheep. I do not know if wild dogs still exist in large numbers in New Zealand.
About 20 years ago a crusade was declared against them, and I believe that most of them were swept away. Mr Andrew Wilson, a veteran surveyor, writing from Hangatiki, on the Main Trunk line, about 120 miles south of Auckland, supplies some information dealing with these dogs' habits. He expresses an opinion that those which lived in the North Island forests a few years ago had a strain of the original Maori dog in them.
When he was cutting up country in the Upper Manga-o-taki, at the Manga-mangoro mountain, half way between Awakino and Kawhia, on the West Coast of the North Island, he had some experiences with these animals on several occasions. At a small clearing called Patiti, he saw two, and one at Pungarehu, one on the Ngapenga range, and one in the Awakino Valley.
He describes them as of a reddish fawn colour, and about the same size as an ordinary cattle dog. He noticed that when any of the surveyor's camp-dogs discovered the wild dogs' tracks, they became excited and alarmed, much more so, apparently, than if the tracks had been made by domestic dogs.
As far as Mr Wilson's experience goes, the wild dogs never barked, but only howled. On many nights he heard them howling within a short distance of his camps.
Mr Taylor White has placed on record a few notes dealing with wild dogs he saw in the alpine ranges of Canterbury in 1856. The animals caused him a great deal of trouble when he was watching his sheep near the upper reaches of the Waimakariri River.
One morning he shot one of the dogs as it walked quietly amongst some ewes and lambs that had not left the camping ground. Two others, which were under observation for some time, seemed to watch if the sheep were without protection in the day time.
If so, they picked out lambs and seized them by the skin of their shoulders. One day Mr White left his flock for a short time. In his absence the dogs visited it, and on his return they gave him a cheer, in the form of a bark or growl, before they disappeared over a hilltop. These dogs are described as being mostly white, but with peculiar markings, some of these being bright yellow.
They were about the same as an ordinary collie, and had neat heads and sharp noses, without jowls or hanging lips, being in shape like Chinese hunting dogs. All except one were short-haired. They lived chiefly on rats, which were present in the district in great numbers, and on the native quail.
• The Italian ship Yallaroi has completed the discharge of her Dunedin cargo, and will be towed to sea about 1 p.m. today, bound for Lyttelton.
Captain Gazzolo is of the opinion that New Zealand is a bad place to bring a ship to, on account of the inducements to sailors to desert before the vessel can get away from port. He admits that New Zealand is a very fine country, but as that fact has already been appreciated by three members of his crew, who have deserted from the ship, the captain regards Dunedin somewhat dolefully from a master mariner's point of view, more particularly on account of the difficulty of procuring seamen to take the place of the deserters.
The Yallaroi has on board nearly half a million Marseilles tiles, all of which will be discharged at Lyttelton.
- ODT, 1.3.1913.
