What animal services do

Our priority is to keep the community safe from animal-related incidents. We also focus on returning lost animals home as quickly as we can and rehoming unclaimed dogs which are suitable to be returned to the community.

We do this by providing education to schools and workplaces about how to interact when confronted by a dog. We also work with dog owners so that they understand the responsibilities that come with owning a dog and to ensure their dog doesn’t cause nuisance or danger to any person or other animal.

We receive a lot of calls each year from the people of Tauranga asking for dog-related information and also process more than 5,000 complaints annually, mainly about barking, and roaming dogs, but also including:

• Dogs attacking or being aggressive to people and animals.
• Unregistered dogs.
• Dog nuisance, such as loud and excessive barking or howling.
• Wandering stock on people’s property or obstructing public roads.
• Keeping of bees, poultry, goats, pigs, and other stock within city boundaries.

To report an issue or complain about dogs or stock control, please contact the Council at (07) 577 7000 if it is urgent, or email us at info@tauranga.govt.nz.

We also run a modern pound for adopting unclaimed dogs and housing lost, roaming and aggressive dogs. The pound is MPI approved. All unclaimed dogs are temperament tested and, if suitable, we have a great adoption programme, with dogs being rehomed all over New Zealand.

Dogs available for adoption

Numbers for the 2024/25 year

• There are 15,900 known dogs in Tauranga City.
• 672,000 dog poops have been picked up using our poo bags from one of our 40 poo bin dispenser locations across Tauranga.
• We released and returned homed 493 dogs.
• We attended 1105 barking dog enquiries.
• We investigated 1,498 roaming dog complaints.
• We rehomed 45 dogs through our dog adoption programme.

Top doggy names

• Bella
• Max
• Charlie
• Molly
• Poppy

Top doggy breeds

• Labrador Retriever
• Staffordshire Bull Terrier
• Border Collie
• Poodle
• Shih Tzu
• Cavalier King Charles
• Maltese
• Miniature Schnauzer
• Jack Russell
• Bichon Frise

Numbers over the years

Animal Services Statistics (758kb pdf

We don’t investigate animal welfare matters. If you believe an animal is being abused, doesn’t have adequate water, food or shelter or isn’t being cared for properly, contact MPI or the Tauranga SPCA on (07) 578 0245.