Impounded Dogs

If your dog is lost or missing

It can be upsetting to find out your beloved pet is unexpectly missing. The most important thing is to stay calm and explore all your options to help find your dog again.

My dog is lost, what should I do?

Check with your neighbours and on nearby streets - often, your dog won't have roamed far from home
Ring the Rotorua SPCA in case your dog has been handed in by someone
Check local lost and found pets pages on social media, such as Lost & Found Pets Rotorua - Facebook.

Contact the Rotorua Pound

Call us so we can check against dogs already in our care or keep a look out in case your dog does end up at the Rotorua Pound.

Let our Animal Control team know immediately if your dog is lost or missing. Call Animal Control on 07 348 4199.

Rotorua Pound

Location	Open to the public
210 State Highway 30, Horohoro	Monday - Friday between 11am & 1.30pm

What happens if your dog is impounded

Reuniting dogs with their owners is our priority. This helps Rotorua Lakes Council maintain community safety, another key priority. We need to make sure that well-loved pets aren't out and about, getting into trouble or putting themselves or others at risk.

If your dog ends up in our care, our Animal Control officers will do their best to make contact with you. You can help this process by:

Making sure your dog is always registered and microchipped
Checking your contact details, both on Council's dog registration and on the national microchip register, are up to date
Letting us know as soon as you find out your dog is missing.

We also aim to find new homes for suitable surrendered or unclaimed dogs.

Impounding fees

Before your dog can be released, you must pay any impounding fees owed.

These fees help pay for the maintenance and operation of the Pound facilities, feeding your dog, and keeping it safe and secure while in our care. Depending on the circumstances of your dog’s impounding, other fees may apply.

Category	Fee inc. GST
First impounding	$90.60
Second impounding	$190.80
Third and subsequent impounding	$215.00
Sustenance (food) fee per day	$16.60
Seizure fee	$60.70
DNA sampling	$13.00

How to avoid having your dog impounded

We encourage all dog owners to practice responsible dog ownership. That means:

Practicing dog safety
Preventing your dog from wandering
Understanding our local dog bylaws.

DNA sampling and desexing

Rotorua Lakes Council use DNA sampling and desexing to help keep people, dogs and other animals safe.

DNA sampling helps us prove or disprove a dog's involvement in alleged offences, like attacks. The cost of this process will be added to any applicable impounding fees owed by the dog’s owner.

Desexing helps reduce the number of roaming and offending dogs, as well as the number of unwanted puppies that end up at our Pound.

DNA sampling

Under Rotorua Lakes Council’s Dog Control Bylaw and Dog Policy, Council has authority to take a sample of hair or saliva from an impounded dog to obtain a DNA profile. The DNA profile will be retained as a record by Council and may be used to prove or disprove a dog’s involvement in alleged offences such as attacks. Read more about this process in Section 12(iii) of the Dog Control Bylaw.

Compulsory desexing

Where Council has record of a dog being out of control on any previous occasion within the previous 12-month period, Council may require the owner of that dog to have it desexed and produce evidence of that procedure within 1 month of the notice being issued. Read more about the desexing process under Section 12(iv) of the Dog Control Bylaw.