Shannon Childs from the SPCA with abandoned kittens in Auckland. Photo / Herald on Sunday
The Auckland SPCA has recorded a 25-year high in the number of animals
dumped before this year's credit crunch-affected Christmas.
Chief executive Bob Kerridge said 114 pets were taken to the organisation's Mangere Bridge shelter on Tuesday, the biggest figure for a single day during his 25 years
in the job.
The number of unwanted animals in Auckland is 5 per cent up on last year, and Kerridge predicted the situation would get worse because of
the global recession and kitten season.
"It's highly likely that figure will be exceeded one day before Christmas. No doubt the state of the economy is playing a part.
"The sad thing about that is people need to realise that animals, during a time of hardship, are a great support."
The Waikato SPCA also reported an increase in cats and kittens being dumped compared to last year.
Operations manager Adrienne Corfe said the financial situation had seen
more people asking to sign over pets to the SPCA. There had been no increase in Wellington but spokeswoman Lisa Snow said that may be down to an outbreak of the lethal dog virus Parvo in Porirua and Naenae.
"We usually get people who forgot to book their cat into a cattery so they decide they don't want it any more and bring it in," she said.
The pre-Christmas dumping spike has coincided with an increase in deliberate acts of animal abuse.
A 14-year-old boy was charged over a horrific killing of a cat in Tauranga in October.
Police allege the teen cut off three of the cat's paws and its tail, drove a nail through its head and strung it up by a piece of rope.
Wanganui residents this week spoke of their shock at seeing two teenage boys on bikes deliberately run over a small ginger cat in the city's St John's Hill.
They boys reportedly yelled "yahoo" as the cat flew in the air and landed on the roadside.
And Napier SPCA staff said an incident in the Maraenui suburb on Tuesday was one of the worst they have come across.
A dog was tethered to a car, then dragged several hundred metres, grinding one hind leg down to the bone, Hawke's Bay Today reported.
'We've had some very bad cases of really quite gross cruelty," said
Kerridge.
