Post by Dave Homewood on Dec 17, 2022 10:00:44 GMT 12
Wow, did you know that back in the 1800s New Zealand had packs of wild dogs and allegedly dingos roaming around, attacking stock? Have a read of this small series of letters to the editor of the New Zealand Herald.
16 JULY 1935
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WILD DOGS
Sir, —In the Herald Supplement of June 29 there was an interesting article about wild cats. We also know that horses, cattle, pigs, and goats, descendants of domestic strains as well as cats, have gone wild. Yet after residing in New Zealand for thirty years, and meeting rabbiters, and all other types of men from the back country, I have never heard much about wild dogs. One man did tell me about a pack of wild dogs that used to hunt in the hill country between Gisborne and Wairoa, in the East Coast District. These dogs often worried the sheep, although if chasing sheep and a mob of wild pigs came across their track they would desert the sheep for the wild pigs.
Recently in the news columns of the Herald it has been reported that half-bred dingos, from a cross between dingos and cattle or Alsatian dogs, were causing a lot of trouble in parts of New South Wales. Also in your issue July 12 there is a news item about a "huge wild dog," a cross between a cattle and kangaroo dog, that was killed in Australia. With a country like New Zealand, that has so much scrub and fern and other cover, and with plenty of natural food in the shape of rabbits, it is a wonder that we have had no packs of wild dogs, especially when on occasions a rabbiter who had a pack might desert them and let them run wild. It would be interesting if any of your readers would supply any information about this matter.
Inquirer.
23 JULY 1935
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WILD DOGS
Sir, —In reply to your correspondent "Inquirer" there were plenty of wild dogs in the Kaipara in the year 1863 to about 1871, when the brothers Coates killed the last of them, 28 in all. Every Aucklander should know the purebred dingo they killed, which was stuffed and shown in the Auckland Museum for many years. I killed ten in one day, including nine pups, quarter-bred dingoes. Mr. Thomas Coates told me the purebred dingo got away from some party up North, who had imported it many years before we reached Kaipara. The pack were very destructive and were nearly the death of the Coates Brothers hunting them. The mother of the pups I killed worried everything we had alive till I did for her.
George L. Thomson. Mangere.
31 JULY 1935
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WILD DOGS
Sir, —Dogs reputed to be of true wild strain were numerous prior to 1898 on the slopes of Mount Ruapehu, the Kaimanawa range and in the sources of the Turahina and Mangaetui Rivers. The late Mr. David Ledward, of Ruanui and Ngaurakehu, told me that in former days when he was a cadet with the Studholmes, who stocked the adjacent plains with sheep, the dogs, hunting in packs, stampeded the Merino sheep into gullies, where hundreds were smothered. Though many were killed by Kangaroo dogs imported from Australia, he said there were not less than 80 left in the mountain and vicinity in 1896. They were too wary to take poisoned baits, but it was said they would dig up buried bait from the freshly turned earth.
I have seen them living and dead in the Te Kapua block, about 30 miles away from the mountain. They were uniformly of one shade of colour overall, a cream or dirty white, had flat heads, prick ears and a bushy tail inclined to curl over the back and they were about the size of an undersized collie dog. They hunted in packs and yelped instead of barking. It was said they were not fast and a kangaroo dog was said to be sure of his quarry if given 200 yards of clearing for his run before the smaller dog reached the bush.
Curiously the sheep killed bore slight trace of teeth, and one had to get off one's horse to turn the carcase over to see the blood traces on the throat, the only part showing attack. The Maoris had no idea of the origin of the dog and stated that they brought it when they came to this country from overseas. The dogs were practically extinct in 1900.
" Wiri." J. H. Lyon.
26 AUGUST 1935
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WILD DOGS
Sir, —I was interested to read in your paper of wild dogs of the dingo breed being seen in the Matakohe district in the days of early settlement there. About the same time, or rather earlier, when the bush was practically continuous from Glorit to Warkworth, my grandfather poisoned a pack of wild dogs which he described as characteristic of the Australian dingo. This pack, which numbered 13, killed a large number of our sheep. On one occasion my grandfather laid strychnine baits near the carcases of the sheep; on the morning following he found the whole pack dead near by.
My father once heard yelping in a near by gully in the bush, and on investigating he found the pack had a large boar bailed in the watercourse. On his approach the dogs turned tail and fled, showing no signs of attacking him. As it is hardly likely that they were the same stock as the Matakohe wild dogs, it would almost point to New Zealand having a dingo breed of dog. I have heard an old Maori chief talk of wild dogs in the Maungakahia Valley many years ago.
Peter R. Gardner.
28 SEPTEMBER 1935
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WILD DOGS
Several times lately reference has been made in the Herald to wild dogs or dingoes, that were seen in the early days of North Auckland. At the present time there are very few old pioneers left who have seen one of these dogs or had any experience of their doings, and for that reason I would like to relate my own experience. My father and mother, with six children and an uncle of mine, came to New Zealand in 1860 under the 40-acre land grant system and took up their land at Te Arai, being the first settlers in the eastern part of the district and adjoining the Pakiri block, at that time Maori land owned by the great Chief Te Kiri.
Soon after we had got our whare built and settled down we were annoyed by a dog that used to come every night about midnight and bark and howl, usually three barks and then a long howl. As we had no knowledge of there being wild dogs, we thought it was a stray Maori dog that had got lost. It became such a nuisance and frightened the children that they could get no sleep.
My uncle had brought from England with him a double-barrelled gun, and bullet mould, so he got a piece of lead and made a bullet and loaded his gun the night before. At the usual time, midnight, a lovely bright moonlight night, the dog commenced his barking at the back of the whare. My uncle got out quietly and looked round the corner of the whare. He saw a white object about fifteen yards away and fired at it. With a yelp and spring in the air it made a bolt down the hill into a clump of kauri bush about three hundred yards.
Next morning my uncle and I tracked it by a few drops of blood into the bush and there we found it dead. It was a very pretty animal on short legs and a fox-like head with prominent eyes and sharp-pointed ears and a bushy tail, a yellow white in colour.
Sometime after that a settler at Te Arai Point was continually finding dead sheep with very little appearance of being worried by dogs; the only wounds were a few teeth marks in the neck like shot marks. The owner of the sheep at that time, not being aware of wild dogs in the country, thought it was a neighbour who was responsible for the death of the sheep.
Between the Pakiri bush and Te Arai Point are several miles of sandhills. Our home was about two miles from these sandhills and we often used to take a run down to the surf beach, having to cross about half a mile over these sandhills. We often saw dog tracks travelling over the soft sand from the bush toward Te Arai Point, and in another place would see tracks travelling in the opposite direction.
About a year later another settler had a bush clearing about a mile to the south of our farm at Te Arai and adjoining the Pakiri block. He bought about twenty-five sheep and a week or two later to his surprise found fourteen of them lying dead with very little sign of being worried by dogs. The owner of the sheep told my father he could have the sheepskins and wool if he cared to skin them. I remember going with my father to skin them and the only sign of worrying was a few teeth marks in the neck the same as those found at Te Arai Point.
It appears that the dog would get a grip of the throat and hold on till the sheep was dead and then let go and catch another one in the same way. As no part of the carcase was ever eaten by the dogs it was quite evident the worrying them was for pure sport.
After that we heard dogs barking one afternoon in the Pakiri bush. My father poisoned some meat offal with strychnine and sent my brother and I about two miles away to lay the poison in what we used to call the "big bush range," where we had heard the dogs barking a few days before. We laid it in two or three places about ton chains in the bush, at the side of the track.
A few weeks later when cattle hunting I found the skeleton of a dog not far from where we laid the poison, and another settler found another one. That is now about 72 years ago, and it was the last time any wild dogs were known in the district.
HENRY BROWN. 2 Green Lane.
16 JULY 1935
--------------
WILD DOGS
Sir, —In the Herald Supplement of June 29 there was an interesting article about wild cats. We also know that horses, cattle, pigs, and goats, descendants of domestic strains as well as cats, have gone wild. Yet after residing in New Zealand for thirty years, and meeting rabbiters, and all other types of men from the back country, I have never heard much about wild dogs. One man did tell me about a pack of wild dogs that used to hunt in the hill country between Gisborne and Wairoa, in the East Coast District. These dogs often worried the sheep, although if chasing sheep and a mob of wild pigs came across their track they would desert the sheep for the wild pigs.
Recently in the news columns of the Herald it has been reported that half-bred dingos, from a cross between dingos and cattle or Alsatian dogs, were causing a lot of trouble in parts of New South Wales. Also in your issue July 12 there is a news item about a "huge wild dog," a cross between a cattle and kangaroo dog, that was killed in Australia. With a country like New Zealand, that has so much scrub and fern and other cover, and with plenty of natural food in the shape of rabbits, it is a wonder that we have had no packs of wild dogs, especially when on occasions a rabbiter who had a pack might desert them and let them run wild. It would be interesting if any of your readers would supply any information about this matter.
Inquirer.
23 JULY 1935
---------------
WILD DOGS
Sir, —In reply to your correspondent "Inquirer" there were plenty of wild dogs in the Kaipara in the year 1863 to about 1871, when the brothers Coates killed the last of them, 28 in all. Every Aucklander should know the purebred dingo they killed, which was stuffed and shown in the Auckland Museum for many years. I killed ten in one day, including nine pups, quarter-bred dingoes. Mr. Thomas Coates told me the purebred dingo got away from some party up North, who had imported it many years before we reached Kaipara. The pack were very destructive and were nearly the death of the Coates Brothers hunting them. The mother of the pups I killed worried everything we had alive till I did for her.
George L. Thomson. Mangere.
31 JULY 1935
---------------
WILD DOGS
Sir, —Dogs reputed to be of true wild strain were numerous prior to 1898 on the slopes of Mount Ruapehu, the Kaimanawa range and in the sources of the Turahina and Mangaetui Rivers. The late Mr. David Ledward, of Ruanui and Ngaurakehu, told me that in former days when he was a cadet with the Studholmes, who stocked the adjacent plains with sheep, the dogs, hunting in packs, stampeded the Merino sheep into gullies, where hundreds were smothered. Though many were killed by Kangaroo dogs imported from Australia, he said there were not less than 80 left in the mountain and vicinity in 1896. They were too wary to take poisoned baits, but it was said they would dig up buried bait from the freshly turned earth.
I have seen them living and dead in the Te Kapua block, about 30 miles away from the mountain. They were uniformly of one shade of colour overall, a cream or dirty white, had flat heads, prick ears and a bushy tail inclined to curl over the back and they were about the size of an undersized collie dog. They hunted in packs and yelped instead of barking. It was said they were not fast and a kangaroo dog was said to be sure of his quarry if given 200 yards of clearing for his run before the smaller dog reached the bush.
Curiously the sheep killed bore slight trace of teeth, and one had to get off one's horse to turn the carcase over to see the blood traces on the throat, the only part showing attack. The Maoris had no idea of the origin of the dog and stated that they brought it when they came to this country from overseas. The dogs were practically extinct in 1900.
" Wiri." J. H. Lyon.
26 AUGUST 1935
-------------------
WILD DOGS
Sir, —I was interested to read in your paper of wild dogs of the dingo breed being seen in the Matakohe district in the days of early settlement there. About the same time, or rather earlier, when the bush was practically continuous from Glorit to Warkworth, my grandfather poisoned a pack of wild dogs which he described as characteristic of the Australian dingo. This pack, which numbered 13, killed a large number of our sheep. On one occasion my grandfather laid strychnine baits near the carcases of the sheep; on the morning following he found the whole pack dead near by.
My father once heard yelping in a near by gully in the bush, and on investigating he found the pack had a large boar bailed in the watercourse. On his approach the dogs turned tail and fled, showing no signs of attacking him. As it is hardly likely that they were the same stock as the Matakohe wild dogs, it would almost point to New Zealand having a dingo breed of dog. I have heard an old Maori chief talk of wild dogs in the Maungakahia Valley many years ago.
Peter R. Gardner.
28 SEPTEMBER 1935
-----------------------
WILD DOGS
Several times lately reference has been made in the Herald to wild dogs or dingoes, that were seen in the early days of North Auckland. At the present time there are very few old pioneers left who have seen one of these dogs or had any experience of their doings, and for that reason I would like to relate my own experience. My father and mother, with six children and an uncle of mine, came to New Zealand in 1860 under the 40-acre land grant system and took up their land at Te Arai, being the first settlers in the eastern part of the district and adjoining the Pakiri block, at that time Maori land owned by the great Chief Te Kiri.
Soon after we had got our whare built and settled down we were annoyed by a dog that used to come every night about midnight and bark and howl, usually three barks and then a long howl. As we had no knowledge of there being wild dogs, we thought it was a stray Maori dog that had got lost. It became such a nuisance and frightened the children that they could get no sleep.
My uncle had brought from England with him a double-barrelled gun, and bullet mould, so he got a piece of lead and made a bullet and loaded his gun the night before. At the usual time, midnight, a lovely bright moonlight night, the dog commenced his barking at the back of the whare. My uncle got out quietly and looked round the corner of the whare. He saw a white object about fifteen yards away and fired at it. With a yelp and spring in the air it made a bolt down the hill into a clump of kauri bush about three hundred yards.
Next morning my uncle and I tracked it by a few drops of blood into the bush and there we found it dead. It was a very pretty animal on short legs and a fox-like head with prominent eyes and sharp-pointed ears and a bushy tail, a yellow white in colour.
Sometime after that a settler at Te Arai Point was continually finding dead sheep with very little appearance of being worried by dogs; the only wounds were a few teeth marks in the neck like shot marks. The owner of the sheep at that time, not being aware of wild dogs in the country, thought it was a neighbour who was responsible for the death of the sheep.
Between the Pakiri bush and Te Arai Point are several miles of sandhills. Our home was about two miles from these sandhills and we often used to take a run down to the surf beach, having to cross about half a mile over these sandhills. We often saw dog tracks travelling over the soft sand from the bush toward Te Arai Point, and in another place would see tracks travelling in the opposite direction.
About a year later another settler had a bush clearing about a mile to the south of our farm at Te Arai and adjoining the Pakiri block. He bought about twenty-five sheep and a week or two later to his surprise found fourteen of them lying dead with very little sign of being worried by dogs. The owner of the sheep told my father he could have the sheepskins and wool if he cared to skin them. I remember going with my father to skin them and the only sign of worrying was a few teeth marks in the neck the same as those found at Te Arai Point.
It appears that the dog would get a grip of the throat and hold on till the sheep was dead and then let go and catch another one in the same way. As no part of the carcase was ever eaten by the dogs it was quite evident the worrying them was for pure sport.
After that we heard dogs barking one afternoon in the Pakiri bush. My father poisoned some meat offal with strychnine and sent my brother and I about two miles away to lay the poison in what we used to call the "big bush range," where we had heard the dogs barking a few days before. We laid it in two or three places about ton chains in the bush, at the side of the track.
A few weeks later when cattle hunting I found the skeleton of a dog not far from where we laid the poison, and another settler found another one. That is now about 72 years ago, and it was the last time any wild dogs were known in the district.
HENRY BROWN. 2 Green Lane.