Northland's cruelty shame continues - but there was a happy ending

When he was about  5 weeks old, Lucius, a bull-terrier cross, was thrown from a moving car.
Onlookers initially thought the paper bag hurled from the car contained litter.
But after hearing yelps, they  investigated and found the puppy had landed on its face but, remarkably, escaped with minor injuries to the mouth.
That case - and others from the region - feature prominently in the SPCA's annual animal abuse list of shame which highlights the 50 top animal-cruelty cases around the country between October 2008 and September this year.
Four of the cases come from the area north of Warkworth.
But out of the torture also comes triumph, with at least one of the animals abused in Northland in the past 12 months finding a new, loving home.
While many of the cases of cruelty on the list led to  animals having to be put down, Lucius had a happier ending,  adopted by Lloyd Wilkie, from TopVets in the town, who initially treated the animal.
Mr Wilkie said the puppy, now a healthy  8 or  9 months old, was thriving.
The veterinarian said animal abuse was an everyday part of his job, but the  puppy's plight had touched him and partner Kiri Dutton .
"He had some abrasions (after being thrown out of the car) but nothing was broken, luckily. He was malnourished, hadn't been wormed, had mange and other signs of neglect," Mr Wilkie said.
"Now he's short, but he's wide, and there's a bit of bull terrier in there and he's thriving."
Other cases in Northland included a 5-month-old puppy, named Polly, who was found suspended upside down from a garage door at a  Warkworth property in November.
Her howls  alerted neighbours, who found the German shepherd hogtied with industrial tape. She also  had a badly broken leg. An emergency operation saved her life and Polly is now living with a new adopted family.
In August, an 11-year-old dog was shot dead near an intersection in Kerikeri. Police believe someone pulled up in a car  and shot the dog with a high-powered rifle.
Also in August, a cat was found dead on the side of the road in Kerikeri. Investigators believe it had suffered an excruciating death, after being tied to a car and dragged by the neck.
None of the culprits in the Northland cases  was prosecuted, but even when people are, the SPCA says it is often left dissatisfied by the sentences handed out by the courts.
In March, a Manukau District Court judge fined Peter James Cookley $500 and ordered him to pay veterinary costs of $900 after he killed a cat with a crossbow.
Cookley told police he reacted after the cat ate chicken from his kitchen bench.
 The judge also granted Cookley's request for the crossbow to be returned.
The SPCA said the case was a prime example of judges not being tough enough on those  who committed serious acts of cruelty to animals.
Northland topped the list of shame with the most cases in each of its first six years, but this year Wellington and Napier, with six cases each, both headed the list.