Rural landowners risk hefty bills for fires that take more than an hour to fight, Wairarapa principal rural fire officer Phil Wishnowsky has warned.

South Wairarapa District Council has voted to change its policy on shooting unwanted and dangerous dogs, opting for euthanasia by a vet instead.

The family of bashed Martinborough firefighter Peter Fisher are thrilled with the progress he is making in rehab and have been told medical staff aim to have him go home on January 7.

An ill-prepared Chilean tourist who got lost while tramping in Mt Holdsworth would have died if he had not had a mobile phone with him, say search and rescue volunteers.

Two rare birds have laid eggs at Wairarapa's Riversdale Beach and a temporary fence has been built to protect them.

Carterton schoolgirl Grace Yeats will today become the first child in New Zealand to receive electrical brain implants to help calm her violent seizures.

An 18-year-old woman was punched in the face during what appeared to be a random attack in the Masterton McDonald's carpark early yesterday.

A person is in a serious condition after being hit by a bus outside Palliser Estate at the Toast Martinborough wine festival.

A man arrested for carrying drug utensils surprised police by vomiting up a snaplock bag of white powder, thought to be $7000 worth of methamphetamine.

An Australian woman remains in a critical condition in hospital today after a quadbike crash, after the second serious quadbike incident this week.

The death of a 10-year-old boy in a quad bike accident on a south Wairarapa farm has prompted calls for more safety messages aimed at the vehicles.

At least three separate investigations are underway after a 10-year-old boy was killed in a quad bike accident near in Wairarapa this morning.

A 10-year-old boy has died after he was found pinned under a quad bike on a farm in south Wairarapa today.