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Lately for Monday 27 May 2019

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10:20 Maternity service closure  birth 

A Southland women was forced to give birth on the side of the road in an ambulance on Sunday because her local maternity centre was not equipped to handle the complicated birth. The women was making the hour-long journey to Southland Hospital in Invercargill before she had to pull over. This was because the nearby Lumdsden Maternity Centre was controversially downgraded to an unstaffed hub by the Southern District Health Board last August. Yesterday's incident has reignited debate about the quality of maternal services for women in rural parts of New Zealand. Emile Donovan is joined by National College of Midwives CEO Alison Eddy about the downgrade and the pressure it puts on midwives. 

10:30 Sky could axe live coverage of Mitre 10 Cup

Provincial rugby in New Zealand could be in for a dramatic shake up as Sky Television considers screening fewer live Mitre 10 Cup games. As the competition struggles with declining attendance rates, New Zealand Rugby hopes that showing fewer games will encourage more fans to go along to the games. Emile is joined by legendary broadcaster Keith Quinn to chat about the report and what it may mean for the future of domestic rugby.  

10:45 Husky hysteria: Game of Thrones fans buying from backyard breeders

The popularity of Game of Thrones has been well documented but the success of the show has lead to some surprising side effects here in New Zealand. Siberian Huskies are used to play the mythical "direwolfs" in the show, which has lead to a tremendous surge in the number of people who want to adopt the dogs in New Zealand. However, many of these pet owners do not know what they are signing up for when they adopt there would be wolf. Michelle Atwood from Husky Rescue New Zealand has reported a number of cases where the dogs have been adopted from "backyard breeders" who abuse and overbreed the dogs to meet the demand. This is made worst by the fact that many of the owners give up the dogs after 18 months after realising they difficult animals to care for. Michelle joins Emile to explain more.