Our hidden pet abuse shame

A British woman was caught abusing a cat. Photo / Supplied

The world may be appalled by a British woman who put a cat in a wheelie bin, but it is nothing when compared to dogs being hanged in this country, SPCA workers say.

Television footage of Mary Bale - the woman who shut 4-year-old tabby Lola in a bin for 15 hours, earning her the tag of Britain's most hated woman - flashed around the globe this week.

Police are monitoring death threats made against Bale on social networking websites.

But in New Zealand, abuse is a lot worse.

SPCA workers say they have dealt with a man who used duct tape to hold the muzzle of his dog closed, later slitting her throat.

A dog's facial injury was left unattended so half of it rotted away.

And dogs are being hanged from trees in Gisborne.

SPCA chief inspector Charles Cadwallader said that at an animal welfare forensic conference in the United States, professionals from overseas were shocked to hear about the state of New Zealand's animal cruelty.

"They were astonished at the level of cruelty. They just could not believe that these things would happen.

"New Zealand has a delightful image of a friendly, clean and green country and, in the most part, that is exactly what this country is.

"It does, however, come as some surprise to people to find that there is a dark side and that acts of animal abuse, especially those of extreme cruelty that have so recently had such a high profile, are perpetrated in our wonderful country."

Cadwallader said recent convictions highlighted the trend.

They included dogs being hanged from their necks in trees in Gisborne, seagulls tortured in shopping trolleys and other atrocities.

"It's not uncommon for dogs in Gisborne to be euthanised by hanging," Cadwallader said.

"Every inspector that I know of is up to their eyeballs in animal welfare work."

An associate professor in clinical psychology at the University of Auckland, Ian Lambie, said the reasons people were cruel to animals depended on the individual's situation.

"People do it for different reasons. Potentially people like this act the way they do if they have some issues of anti-social and offending history."

He said sometimes animal cruelty occurred in a domestic relationship.

"It's a way of getting back at someone. They target the person through the animal."

He said although it varied, "there certainly can be a link between early onset of cruelty to animals and antisocial behaviour later in life".

What do you think?

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