Editorial: Gruesome dog crime disturbing

Photo / Thinkstock

Dogs may be man's best friend but, sometimes, man can be a dog's worst enemy.

A Dannevirke man, Perry Pepere Mason, 45, has been convicted in the Wairoa District court of wilful ill treatment of an animal with the result that the dog died. He beat his dog to death with a steel pipe and for that he has been sentenced to 12 months in prison and disqualified from owning dogs for three years.

I saw the photographs of the beaten dog that were used as evidence before court and I can tell you they are quite disturbing - so terrible that we decided not to to run them in the paper.

Even without the photos, it is still a case that will cause much distress and unhappiness to many dogs lovers.

What I cannot understand is what possesses a person to beat another living being, especially a pet, to such an extent.

The veterinarian who examined the dog, found it had received more than one blow to the head and body and was alive during the beating. It died shortly after the beating as a result of head injuries, trauma to the chest and severe shock from bleeding.

The veterinarian found the dog had suffered significant, unnecessary and unreasonable pain and distress as a result of the beating it had received.

Mason admitted beating the dog with the pipe, but said it was only once and in retaliation for being bitten.

Ric Odom, CEO of the Royal New Zealand SPCA said it was because of Mason's history of violent, anti-social behaviour that they asked for a sentence of imprisonment to hold him properly accountable for this "deliberate act of cruelty" .

Hopefully, this stiff sentence will make others pause before inflicting pain and misery on an animal that just wants to be their friend.