Bay of Islands Rescue group founder Summer Johnson said there should be more prosecutions taken out against cruel animal owners in Northland. Photo / file
Bay of Islands Rescue group founder Summer Johnson said there should be more prosecutions taken out against cruel animal owners in Northland. Photo / file
Overwhelmed animal rescue groups are demanding answers from New Zealand's largest animal welfare charity after it withdrew its services from the Whangārei pound.
But the SPCA says it is doing the best it can with its limited resources.
For many years the SPCA has helped the Whangārei District Council withrehoming, desexing and vet care, but last year advised it would no longer continue to do so.
The council said this will be a "greater burden", and the move has angered Northland and Auckland rescue groups, who say it's putting more pressure on them.
A recent example was a litter of 12, 4-week-old puppies, covered in blisters, who were dumped by a Kaitāia owner whose adult dogs repeatedly produce puppies as they are not desexed.
"We try and take more dogs from the pound now. We are lucky if we have less than 170 dogs in our care at one time.
"The rescue groups are now the voice for these animals."
Whangārei District Council's Dog Control Report 2019-20 said it was "a year of ups and downs" for the district's dog control team.
Of the 368 impounded dogs last year, 140 were returned to their owners, 174 were euthanised and 54 were rehomed.
That's compared to 293 euthanised and 33 dogs that were rehomed the year before.
"Regrettably the SPCA has recently advised that they are no longer able to assist, which will put a greater burden on council," the report said.
The puppies were covered in blisters and are now being cared for by the Saving Hope Foundation. Photo / supplied
SPCA Northland area manager Margaret Rawiri said its Whangārei branch had been "assisting the council for many, many years and continues to do so".
"However, with limited resources and as a charitable organisation with limited funding, staff are now needing to focus on offering SPCA's core services to the vulnerable animals in the region."
The council's health and bylaws manager, Reiner Mussle, said the change would put "a greater demand on staff and contractor time to provide the services previously provided by the SPCA, both in relation to dogs and small farm animals, which council now needs to deal with".
It would not have any effect on impounded dogs, though there would be a "slight increase" in the cost of desexing adoption dogs, which is passed on to the new owner.
"We understand and respect their reasons and we have responded by making some changes to ensure animal services in the district are not negatively affected," Mussle said.
"In relation to animal welfare matters we continue to work closely with the SPCA and that's where their focus remains, and rightly so."
Hinton and Bay of Islands Animal Rescue group (BOIAR) said the SPCA needs to focus more on desexing programmes in Northland and prosecuting cruelty cases.
BOIAR founder Summer Johnson said it's the third time the Kaitāia family has contacted the pound to get rid of as many litters of puppies.
There were 12 pups but three were lying dead on the lawn, and one is undergoing vet care.
"The SPCA should have done something," Johnson said.
"I should be able to ring the SPCA and they go and investigate and prosecute, and it doesn't work like that.
"I could ring them up on a daily basis with a prosecutable case."
Bay of Islands Rescue group founder Summer Johnson said there should be more prosecutions taken out against cruel animal owners in Northland. Photo / file
The SPCA receives $2-3 million of government funding and is the only New Zealand charity that can uphold animal welfare laws, with the power to prosecute those who offend against animals.
A spokeswoman could not say how many prosecutions had been taken out on neglectful Northland owners over the last five years.
Most complaints attended by inspectors result in the person being educated or directed to comply with the Animal Welfare Act, she said.
"The inspector will issue a verbal or written directive and recheck the animal, often multiple times, to ensure the person is changing their behaviour and meeting their legal obligations."
Only nine puppies were alive when the rescue group picked them up; the other three were lying dead on the lawn of the Kaitāia property. Photo / supplied
Rawiri said the rescue groups need to work together.
"People need to remember that we're a charity with a lot of passionate people working for us and we're guilty of spreading ourselves too thin sometimes.
"We are all doing the best we can with the limited resources we have."
