Author: MIL-OSI Publisher

Source: Radio New Zealand

A Horowhenua District Council cost-cutting decision has resulted in a local attraction.

When the council stopped mowing residential berms to save money, it made Levin resident Louise McCarthy very grumpy.

She refused to cut the grass herself and declined neighbours’ offers to trim it too, until she decided to transform the berm into an urban meadow full of wildflowers.

Louise McCarthy told Checkpoint said her berm was now outstanding and thick with flowers.

Her anger at the council’s refusal to mow the area was a good motivation, she said.

“I must’ve been muttering away to myself as I was doing it and it’s made all the little flowers pop their heads out to have their say.”

McCarthy told Checkpoint there were a couple of reasons why she refused to mow the berm herself.

She said she only owned an electric lawn mower and to mow the berm she would have had to run the cord over a public footpath which she did not feel was very safe and would be a trip hazard.

“I live right next door to a park so it would have taken them [the council] two minutes to do my berm which they had always done previously.”

Despite her floral berm McCarthy does not describe herself as a gardener.

“Most things I can murder within oh a week, but no way am I a gardener I wouldn’t know a weed from a flower if it jumped up and bit me.”

McCarthy agreed that she had a “tough love” approach to plants and said the only thing she did was water the berm in the evening.

She said to get the garden to its current state she first killed all the unmowed council grass, then invited her grandchildren around for what she called a dig-it party.

“I wanted them to turn the dirt over for me cause it was like concrete and I knew I wouldn’t be able to manage it on my own.”

Her youngest son turned up with a trailer of soil which they dumped on top, she said.

“Sprinkled all the seeds in and just watered it and just left it and this all came up and it’s like wow!”

McCarthy said she also had a lovely neighbour who helped her by doing a whole day’s weeding when the flowers first started coming up.

“But since then I’ve just left it and some of the weeds, I think they’re weeds, have actually got very pretty flowers on them so I’ve just left them.”

McCarthy said she now wanted to see if she could find some plants that would flower during winter and is hoping that the garden would be able to regenerate itself.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

Boating restrictions at Lake Rotomanu in New Plymouth are to remain while Taranaki Regional Council seeks partners to help fund an attempt to eradicate the invasive gold clam.

Tuesday’s full council meeting weighed up a report by environment services manager Steve Ellis that outlined five options for the management of freshwater gold clams (Corbicula fluminea) in Lake Rotomanu.

Councillors heard attempting to eradicate the clams could cost up to $1.3 million, with no guarantee of success and an ongoing risk of reinfestation.

That would require a rates increase, which councillors were not prepared to do.

Instead they left the door open for a future elimination attempt by asking staff to explore funding partnerships with external agencies.

Councillors were concerned about the potential environmental and economic impacts if the clam spread to other waterways, particularly Lakes Mangamahoe, Ratapiko and Rotorangi where they could affect hydroelectrical generation and irrigation systems.

They approved, in principle, an additional $250,000 for the biosecurity and Check, Clean, Dry programmes to identify and mitigate pathways, raise public awareness and reduce the risk of the gold clam spreading.

The money would also allow the council to increase its monitoring of Taranaki waterways for Corbicula and other freshwater pests.

Councillors made it clear Lake Rotomanu must remain closed to motorised boats, which pose the greatest risk of spreading the clam.

Council chair Craig Williamson said in an ideal world the council would love to eradicate the clams, especially as there was no evidence it spread to other Taranaki lakes. However the reality was the it could not afford to do it alone.

“There is a real opportunity for public and private partners to step up and work with us – we all have a lot to lose if the gold clam spreads unchecked in Taranaki. We’ll continue having those conversations and keep looking for practical solutions.

“In the meantime we must boost efforts to reduce the risk of spread, as well as increasing surveillance and preparedness. The onus is on boaties and other water users to take responsibility for their own backyards and Check, Clean, Dry every time they move between waterways, particularly if coming from the Waikato River.”

New Plymouth District Council, which owns Lake Rotomanu, had kept the lake closed to motorised boats and jet skis since the clams were discovered.

Conversations were now underway to determine if NPDC would extend that closure or if Biosecurity New Zealand would impose formal restrictions.

Recreational users such as kayakers, swimmers, remote-controlled boat enthusiasts and fishers could continue using the lake but were required to thoroughly check their gear.

The three treatment options identified in the report were killing the clams with copper ($600,000), draining the lake then applying salt ($900,000) and emptying the lake and pumping in seawater ($1.3 million).

They would all be complex operations, with only the copper option attempted before in New Zealand.

Gold clams were discovered in the New Plymouth lake in November 2025, the first confirmed infestation outside of Waikato.

Prolific breeders, they could clog water-based infrastructure, such as electricity generation plants, irrigation systems, and water treatment plants and competed with native species for food and space.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

A leading search and rescue operator says he told police he could hear a noise so the search for a dead firefighter could continue.

A coronial inquest is exploring the desperate search and rescue operation after volunteer firefighters Dave van Zwanenberg and Craig Stevens were buried by a slip at Muriwai on Auckland’s west coast during Cyclone Gabrielle.

Urban Search and Rescue operations officer Glenn Hudson described the chaotic scene as he arrived in Muriwai on the night of 13 February 2023.

He explained that fellow volunteers and members of the public were digging through the dirt.

“It was natural that they wanted to help their fellow brigade members, but they were not trained in search and rescue incidents of this nature,” he said.

“There was no real command or control of the other staff apart from the USAR staff, so we had to take control and bring order to what was a very chaotic situation.”

Hudson gave the order to remove everyone but trained search and rescue staff from the site.

But while the scene was under control, the conditions were chaotic.

“I recall the conditions at Muriwai were horrendous. It was difficult to see more than a metre in front of you,” he said.

“I had been involved in numerous USAR operations around the world, and the conditions at Muriwai were the worst I have encountered.”

Stevens was freed from the pile at about 3am, but he was hypothermic. He died in the hospital later that day.

Staff had been digging for hours, but saw no sign of van Zwanenberg.

In that time, two more slips had fallen from the cliff, and fearing for the safety of his team, Hudson made an impossible decision.

“At 0305, I made the difficult decision to terminate the rescue operation,” he recounted through tears.

When search and rescue staff returned the next day, police had taken control of the scene.

The operation had moved from rescue to recovery, and progress had slowed to a crawl.

After hours of waiting, Hudson took matters into his own hands.

“I was extremely frustrated. After going back up to the slip site, I decided we needed to get on with the recovery, as it was safe to do so, and the delays now mean a family has no answers for possibly another night,” he said.

“So, I said that I had heard a tapping, which I thought was coming from Dave. By raising the possibility of Dave being alive, I was able to make the case for reopening a rescue operation.”

Hudson explained that at this point, geotechnical staff had assessed the site and determined it was safe to keep digging.

“In my view, the safety of all rescue personnel was at its best since the beginning of the incident. I knew that we would soon run out of daylight, and apart from the safety of my staff, which is my paramount concern, my other concern was to return Dave to his family in a timely manner.”

He remarked that after explaining his decision to other leadership staff, they smiled in recognition.

“Although they did not say anything to suggest this, I believe [they] were aware that I was using this as a pretext to get things moving. They both smiled at me and said, good work.”

But Hudson acknowledged that his actions had gone against protocol.

“I know that what I did is not protocol, but one of FENZ’s values is to do the right thing,” he said.

“Everything I did was very measured. I was not putting my guys at risk, but I felt that we could have and should have done more to recover Dave earlier.”

Van Zwanenberg’s body was recovered the following morning.

“A group of USAR personnel carried Dave to the waiting undertaker’s vehicle. After placing Dave into the van, we set up a guard of honour as the van left the slip site to head to the Muriwai fire station.”

Van Zwanenberg’s family thanked Hudson through their lawyer, Jane Glover.

“The family would like to formally thank you and your team for going above and beyond to bring Dave home to his family and for carrying out the operation with the utmost respect and dignity,” Glover said.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

The lawyers involved in a scrap between dog owners and the Auckland Council have been urged to settle their issues out of court.

Last year, the Puketāpapa Local Board voted four to two to ban dogs from running free in part of Hillsborough’s Monte Cecilia Park.

Locals set up a formal group, the Monte Cecilia Dog Lovers Incorporated Society, to the decision with a judicial review, which began at the High Court in Auckland on Tuesday.

Lawyer George Barton has taken on their case pro bono.

About 15 dog owners packed into the public gallery of a small courtroom on Tuesday morning. Auckland Council staff and the former chair and now deputy chair of the local board, Ella Kumar, also attended.

In his opening argument, Barton told Justice Andrew Becroft that as chair, Kumar did not approach the task of evaluating dog access rules with an open mind.

“She sent emails to that effect, saying the best way, the only way, to make this park safe for all of the community to use was to make it on-leash,” Barton said.

“I don’t in making that allegation suggest that there is any bad faith whatsoever. But she was always of the view that this park needed to be on-leash.”

Out of 900 responses from Aucklanders during the local board’s consultation, almost 90 percent were against removing the park’s off-leash bowl area.

Barton said that the board’s decision and concerns about safety at the park were not supported by evidence.

“That concern about safety, which was not corroborated by council staff, not supported by those who would actually know what the issues were, not supported by the actual data and statistics, effectively led her to be unable to genuinely consider practicable alternative solutions.”

Animal Management data shows that between 2019 and 2024, three people were attacked by an off-leash dog, all in on-leash areas of the park.

Barton added that the four board members who voted to make the park on-leash only were members of the same local government political party, Communities and Residents.

“The reason why that’s significant here is because the other three members, my submission, is that they essentially surrendered their discretion to dictation. Dictation, in this instance being to just go along with what Ms Kumar wanted.”

But the council’s lawyer, Katherine Anderson KC, told Justice Becroft that the local board members rightfully exercised their decision-making power.

“The passion and the emotion that the dog lovers group is putting before you in its evidence and submissions, we say, are not relevant to the core legal issues that you must decide.”

She said local boards had to balance safety considerations against the exercise and recreation needs of dogs.

“All of the evidence my friend points to relates to Chair Kumar only in terms of statements, emails, and things which he sees indicates an actual closed mind. We say that predisposition is entirely permitted.

“And my friend relies on a conspiracy theory that because they’re all part of a political party that actually has no policy on this point, that somehow they conspired together to support Ms Kumar.

“Fundamentally, it would be absolutely extraordinary in my view, if there was a finding of predetermination in this case.”

She said while the board’s chair favoured leashing, she was open to fencing off an area in a different part of the park for off-leash dogs.

That was to be considered during the board’s long-term planning for Monte Cecilia Park, which was expected to be completed in 2027.

After hearing both sides’ opening arguments, Justice Andrew Becroft described the case as incredibly unorthodox.

He said he understood the need for the Auckland Council to support and uphold the decisions of its elected bodies.

But he said he had not yet seen evidence of consistent and serious injury from dogs at the park.

He urged the two sides to come to a compromise outside of the courtroom.

He suggested the decision on the off-leash area could be put on hold until the park was reviewed again 2027.

“For what is an area the size of a running track, there is vast resources being sunk into this by the Council, and there’s a huge amount of work going into this.

“I don’t want to diminish anybody’s emotional connection to the area or to their dogs. But you’d think for what is a reasonably small area, that there might be a way of resolving it short of both sides throwing the legal kitchen sink at the decision-making.

“Clearly, there’s a significant group who are aggrieved. Is there some sort of halfway house where everyone retains dignity and honour?”

But despite this, the lawyers chose to proceed.

The judicial review is expected to conclude on Wednesday.

Auckland Council and the Puketāpapa Local Board have told RNZ they do not want to comment while the case is before the court.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

A Taranaki cyclist is on crutches with several “bone deep” puncture wounds after a roaming dog latched onto her leg.

The attack sent the New Plymouth woman crashing off her bike while she was out on a country road.

A spate of serious dogs attacks has [https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/587406/what-dog-control-laws-say-about-fatal-attacks-and-what-people-want-to-change

sparked fierce debate] about reforming the 30-year-old dog control law.

A dog attack in Christchurch over the weekend put a father and his teenage son in hospital, while Mihiata Te Rore, 62, died after she was attacked by three dogs while visiting a property in Kaihu, north of Dargaville last week.

New Plymouth resident Amelia was cycling a popular loop outside the city on Saturday morning when she was rushed by an uncontrolled dog on Tikorangi East Road.

Amelia estimated she was going about 40 km/h at the time down a country road she did not usually use.

She told Checkpoint she slowed down when she heard barking, and then saw a German pointer staffy cross dart out of a farm property into the middle of the road.

“As I slowed past it, it just came up next to me and chomped its jaws around my right leg while I was on my bike.”

Amelia said she came off her bike, and then the dog went to the other side of the street and continued barking at them.

She was left with “multiple” puncture wounds on her leg.

“They are bone deep so there’s probably three quite deep punctures, which I’m managing at the moment. I can’t walk on it properly yet, but I should be able to soon.”

Amelia is now on crutches, and said it was frustrating because she was training for a race in March.

She said residents in the area had helped her after the crash, and one of them told her the dog bitten his foot the week before.

Amelia said the animal control officers were “fast and efficient” and quickly took the dog away.

“I didn’t even see them come, I was already in the ambulance by then.”

New Plymouth District Council has confirmed one of its Animal Control Officers attended the dog-bite incident on Tikorangi Road in the weekend.

A spokesperson said a dog had been impounded and an investigation into what happened was underway.

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