Whangārei Heads Rd roaming cattle: 185 complaints after crashes and property damage
Residents say years of complaints, crashes and property damage caused by roaming wild cattle on Whangārei Heads Rd have left them sceptical a lasting solution is close.
In a social media post last week, Whangārei District Council (WDC) said it had spent the past few months working with Northland Regional Council (NRC), police, elected members and other stakeholders to develop an approach. It was preparing to meet landowners across about 22 affected land blocks before holding a wider community meeting.
“The issue is complex and involves multiple landowners and agencies, so it is important that everyone is aligned before wider discussions take place,” the council’s post said.
Waikaraka resident Peter Scott voiced long-running concerns about the cattle to the Northern Advocate in June 2024, warning they posed a serious risk to motorists and residents.
He said WDC had dismissed residents’ concerns, saying all it could do was put up stock roaming road signs.
Scott said council staff had stated the cattle had no identifiable owner, were the community’s problem and landowners should fence their properties.
Last week, a council spokesperson told the Northern Advocate the council’s role had not changed; it still had limited regulatory powers over roaming wild cattle on private land.
“What has changed is that several agencies and stakeholders have been working together to better understand the situation and explore whether there is a practical and co-ordinated pathway forward.
“Council has helped facilitate those discussions, both as a local authority and as one of the affected landowners in the area.”
Residents fear it could take a fatal crash before significant action is taken.
Council records show 185 complaints about roaming cattle in the area since June 2024, while residents point to several collisions involving the animals, including one that wrote a vehicle off earlier this year.
Of the complaints, 117 were about Whangārei Heads Rd, 40 about Waikaraka Beach Rd, 15 regarding Attwood St and 10 for Scott Rd.
Council said it had not confirmed how many cattle were involved but reported a recent increase in complaints from Tamaterau and Scott Rd.
Police Whangārei Area Response Manager, Senior Sergeant Rene Rakete said police had also fielded increased reports of roaming cattle in the Tamaterau area recently.
Scott said he believed the council’s recent efforts to address the issue were driven by the increase in complaints, evidence the cattle had expanded their range, crossing Whangārei Heads Rd on a blind corner and damaging private properties at Tamaterau.
He noted the road there was narrower, more winding and less well lit than at Waikaraka, where they were historically seen more often.
Scott said previous collisions involving the animals, including one that wrote off a Whangārei man’s ute earlier this year near Waikaraka, underscored the urgency and strengthened his belief that somebody could eventually be seriously injured or killed.
The Northern Advocate spoke to three Tamaterau residents, including Tui Rutherford, who said he was woken at 2am last Friday by what he feared were human intruders, only to discover on his CCTV cameras the culprits were two young cattle beasts that had wandered up his driveway from Scott Rd.
Rutherford estimated the animals weighed half a tonne each and said he was worried about the risks they posed to motorists and residents.
Two women, who preferred not to be named, said they were concerned about the likelihood of a tragedy caused by the cattle.
One said she had raised concerns with councillors, animal management staff and the mayor for several years, but had seen little progress despite repeated promises that action was being considered.
The woman, who has lived in the area for 33 years, said the cattle had become a major problem only in the past two or three years and were causing extensive damage to native bush, gardens and private property.
“It just got worse and worse and worse. It’s beyond a joke, we’re getting very, very tired of them.”
She believed the cattle had swelled in number, forcing them to roam further afield for food and water.
She said the cattle had broken through old fence lines that once acted as barriers and now used a paper road beside her property as a direct route between the bush and beach.
Last summer, they often drank from the fish pond in her garden, once even swallowing one of her fish.
Residents had become so accustomed to the problem they created a Facebook chat group called “Ninja Cows” to warn each other when the animals were in the area.
The cattle were becoming bolder and were common around Scott Rd, the woman said.
The other Tamaterau resident, a shareholder in a multiple-owned Māori land block, disputed suggestions the lack of progress could be blamed on difficulties consulting multiple owners.
Despite being a shareholder, she said she had never received a phone call, email, letter or visit from authorities about the problem.
“I think that’s an absolute excuse for them to get out of dealing with the issue,” she said. “It feels like a fob off.”
The woman said the cattle had heavily pugged her property, leaving her front lawn looking “like a mud slip” and creating boggy conditions that had caused her to fall multiple times.
Both women said they were sometimes too scared to go outside when bulls were on their properties.
“Does someone actually have to die before they [authorities] take it seriously?” one of the women said.
Sarah Curtis is a news reporter for the Northern Advocate, focusing on a range of issues. She has nearly 20 years’ experience in journalism, much of which she spent court reporting in Gisborne.