Reward offered for return of stolen Rotorua statue of dog

• Published date: 18 April 2024
• Author: Kelly Makiha Kelly Makiha is a senior journalist who has reported for the Rotorua Daily Post for more than 25 years, covering mainly police, court, human interest and social issues.
• Publication title: Daily Post, The (Rotorua, New Zealand)

Ross Dawson is Taupō born and and raised but hasn’t lived in New Zealand for 40 years

But his love of dogs and desire to donate to animal charities around the world has drawn him to Rotorua Daily Post stories about the mystery of the missing statue of the beloved stray dog on Te Ngae Rd.

The life-size memorial stood on a large rock in an area Harawene used to roam beside Te Ngae Rd, opposite Robinson Ave. The statue was erected following a $10,000 community-led fundraising mission 14 years ago. It honoured the much-loved stray terrier-cross after she was suspected to have been run over.

Harawene ran away from her owner and spent her life sitting on the side of the busy highway, watching traffic. She didn’t allow anyone to approach her but was fed daily by residents in the area, who also erected a small A-frame dog shelter.

Now only two paws remain on the rock after it was cut off from its stand over Easter.

The theft has been reported to police but they say inquiries have failed to find strong leads.

Dawson is not the first to offer a large sum of money. Auckland farmer Alan Cato has offered to pay up to $10,000 to have the statue recreated.

Dawson, a professional pilot of 40 years who has flown internationally for Cathay Pacific for 31 years, told the Rotorua Daily Post from Hong Kong this week he kept up with news from Rotorua having lived in Taupō until he was about 20.

Dawson said he loved dogs and donated to a few dog charities, including shelters in Serbia and Thailand and the Humane Society International.

He said the thief or thieves needed to be held accountable and know their actions were hurtful for those who honoured Harawene’s memory.

“It’s a pretty touching story. I thought ‘how can I invest help to honour her memory’?

‘‘The only ways to do that is action and money. I am not able to offer any actions from here but I can offer money.”

He didn’t expect to get the original statue back but was prepared to offer the reward for its safe return or information leading to the thief or thieves being caught.

He said given the state of the New Zealand economy, he hoped $5000 would “get a lot of tongues wagging”. “That’s a lot of money.”

Dawson, who has two cats and a rescue dog called Eddie, said he didn’t live an extravagant lifestyle but was in a financial position to offer the reward. “I’m doing okay.”

He said any payment of the reward would be carefully considered to ensure it was “ironclad”.

How do rewards work? Rotorua police area commander...