Dear Editor, a big part of the issue is the lack of education when it comes to neutering and fixing the dogs so they’re not reproducing.

It’s also a fact that if a male dog is ‘fixed’ they’re not so aggressive.

If you can’t afford to look after your dog, stop trying to own one. Poor dogs, I feel sorry for them. And now you’ve got people wanting to cook them. We were in Rarotonga only a few weeks ago, there was only one aggressive dog on the beach but he also hadn’t been socialised properly.

Education folks, that’s what’s needed.

Fiona Mason

(Facebook)

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That’s the beauty of most outer islands – no dogs, no dog poos, no undernourished dogs, no barking unnecessarily, none to chase people and vehicles. We have too many here yet the crime rate still soars.

Again, I recommend, law should be dog owners to fence their property so dogs wander in it – no strays, no tied up dogs, no poos elsewhere except owners yard, etc.

Matanoanoa Hetland

(Facebook)

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Domestic violence

Get real man. You are a violent person if you have been charged with assault. Take responsibility. Make amends for your behaviour. Your history has nothing to do with it. It makes no sense to say you love women if you think hitting them is okay.

It is not love, its control and violent abuse. You need to change your life and start respecting women if you ever want a healthy relationship.

Rowena Manning

(Facebook)

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Voting rights

If you want to hear our voice then you should also allow us to vote from Australia or New Zealand – don’t need to be scared of us living outside the Cook Islands.

We’re paying our taxes wherever we go, Australia or New Zealand, and taxes from these countries go back to the Cooks eventually so we should have the rights to vote because we’re taxpayers in New Zealand and Australia (and indirectly) contributed in your economy. Don’t look down on us when we come back.

Raeputa K Dyer-Tutai

(Facebook)