“When I heard about the fatal Kaihu dog attack on the news, I immediately thought ‘the dog that attacked my dog Dolly could potentially do that, kill someone’, she said. The second sign Lidia Sandoval put up at the Ruakākā town entrance to Ruakākā Beach includes information about what to do after a dog attack. Sandoval went to Ruakākā Beach with Dolly, her 6-year-old pound rescue dog, adopted just two months earlier, at Waitangi weekend. Getting out of her car at the Ruakākā Beach carpark, Sandoval said she heard a big dog barking. Walking on Ruakākā Beach has become a little more scary for Lidia Sandoval and Daisy the terrier-daschund cross.

Source: New Zealand Herald February 23, 2026 22:08 UTC