Donna Badorek with one of her rescue puppies. Badorek started Donna Dolittle's Animal Rescue in 2017
Seven 2-week-old puppies found in an enclosed sack at a truck stop in Moerewa.
A young dog found chained to a tree in bush near Paihia so emaciated and dehydrated he couldn't even blink.
And the three 8-week-old pups dumped in Panguru bush so ridden with fleas they were on the point of dying of anaemia.
These are just a few examples in a seemingly endless tide of animal neglect and cruelty in the Far North that rescue groups, Bay of Islands Animal Rescue and Donna Dolittle's Animal Rescue, are dealing with on a regular basis.
They see puppies, kittens, cats and dogs dumped in rivers and rubbish bins, abandoned in forests, and chained up and left to starve.
But with Donna Badorek based in Kaitaia and Summer Johnson in the Bay of Islands the North's unwanted and abandoned animals get a second chance for a better life.
The women, with help from the community and dedicated volunteers, provide them with veterinary care, good food and lots of love.
They bottle feed them, nurture them back to good health, find foster homes, and eventually, their forever homes.
Between them they have rescued and rehomed more than 1000 dogs, puppies, cats, kittens, horses, cows, sheep, goats and rabbits.
Badorek embarked on her animal welfare mission when she became a veterinary nurse at Top Vets in Kaitaia six years ago.
"I saw so many animals coming in and I thought, 'I'll take this one home, and then that one.'
"I took on so many I was putting myself into debt and my family said you need some support with this. They set up a Facebook page and spread the word. It went off.
"Now I've got this clientele of people who will message me in confidence, saying 'I need help'.
"I'm not there to judge, or criticise, I'm there to help them. I'll take the animals and work with the family to get their animals desexed so they don't have any more litters."
The 36-year-old single mum officially started Donna Dolittle's Animal Rescue in 2017. She still works full-time at the vets; most of the animals she takes home have been surrendered to the clinic.
Badorek ensures they get full health checks and vaccinations and are desexed before taking them home for an "incubation period" where they're monitored for health and behavioural issues.
Eight volunteers help her with cleaning, socialising and dog walking. Then the animals are put up for adoption.
Some of the cases she deals with are "horrific", she said.
"What upsets me the most are dogs that are clearly emaciated and starved, they're flea-ridden with severe mange and a belly full of worms.
"It gets overwhelming at times. Mentally and physically it's exhausting.
"There's some days when I sit down and sob and cry and think can I keep doing this and am I making a difference? I don't think I can carry on.
"But then I look down and see those puppies and kittens and it gives me that oomph to keep going."
Badorek will report cruelty cases to the SPCA, although it's not always possible when animals can't be linked to owners, like strays or abandoned pets.
Rescue shelters "pick up the stuff that don't fit under council or SPCA criteria", she said.
So far she has rehomed more than 400 animals of every kind including horses, sheep, turtles and rats.
There are never fewer than 20 animals at her home at any given time; she currently has 22 puppies and dogs, 32 kittens and cats and several rescue pigs and goats.
Recently Badorek put her house on the market so she can buy a bigger property for the animals.
With help from her mum, a 10-acre block is currently being developed to allow for a large kennel complex and other facilities to cater for more four-legged friends.
For Badorek, it's simple: "If I've got the room to take them, I'll take them."
Johnson, from Opua, has been rescuing and rehoming animals for nearly 14 years.
She established Never Ending Story in Matakana near Warkworth before moving further north three and a half years ago.
A year later she'd teamed up with Josie Rogers and formed Bay of Islands Animal Rescue.
Since then she and her volunteers have rehomed more than 500 dogs and puppies in the Far North and sent a further 400 to various other rescue shelters including Saving Hope Foundation in Auckland and Longacres Animal Haven in Wellsford.
It's a full-time job for Johnson, taking calls from the public who find dumped animals, or from people who surrender them. Some just leave them tied up out the back of the Kawakawa vets.
Since March 2018 the charity has also taken on dogs from the Far North District Council's Horeke and Kaitaia pounds to rehome.
Johnson is particularly appalled to find emaciated dogs chained up at properties whose owners have moved away.
The case of seven puppies found in a sack at a Moerewa truck stop had a happy ending for almost all. Though one died and another suffered a broken leg and nerve damage, the remaining six are now being taken care of in loving foster homes.
Johnson copes by meditating every morning and night "to keep myself sane", along with having daily debriefs with fellow rescue groups.
"I just love animals, my passion is what keeps me going," she said.
"It's heart-breaking and soul destroying. Up here it's scary, the amount of properties I see that have dogs chained up ... that's not okay. Dogs are pack animals; they want to be with their people. Having a dog for the hell of it, chaining it up out the back - it's not good enough."
Johnson believes learned behaviour and lack of education and empathy drives people to treat animals badly. Educating children is key to breaking the cycle.
"It's a generational thing. Some people think they have a right to have a dog, whereas owning a dog is a privilege.
"It's a challenge every day. Forty per cent of people want to do the right thing. The other 60 per cent are by the skin of their teeth running to the code of welfare. It's passing the buck too. Some people think animals are expendable."
As Bay of Islands Animal Rescue receives no funding, Johnson relies on the goodwill and support of the community, who are "amazing".
Volunteers organise fundraising events like the upcoming Unicorns and Medieval Party at the Riding for the Disabled arena in Waimate North on July 6 and Kawakawa Bark in the Park which raised more than $3300 in February.
Johnson has 21 foster parents on board, the public donate money, crates, blankets and food, and Four Square in Russell, Paihia and Kawakawa have food donation boxes in store.
She and other volunteers have a weekly stall at the Old Packhouse Market promoting their work and in winter Johnson will go door to door giving out blankets, mattresses, kennels and pet food to those who need it.
The charity gets huge support from Bay of Islands Vets who give discounts for surgeries, vaccinations and other vet treatments that Johnson says she couldn't do without.
A recent advertisement on local Facebook pages offering desexing for a koha saw 20 operations booked in the first three days.
To curb the huge number of unwanted animals, both Badorek and Johnson agree, dog owners should be licensed, desexing made compulsory, and backyard breeding and "puppy mills" banned.
Badorek said central government needs to introduce legislation requiring people to pass a test in order to get a licence to own a dog.
"As it is law to register, it should be law to have them desexed unless you have a licence to breed animals," she said.
"If anyone is going to take on a puppy, they should pass an ownership test, which makes the buyer study the basics of owning a dog so people understand what they're getting themselves into."
The Far North District Council's "chip n snip days" Nga Kuri Auau, held in Kaitaia and Kaikohe in 2017 where dog owners could get their dogs desexed and microchipped for free, should be held every year, Badorek said.
They also need to address cats, not just dogs, she said.
"The kitten season is worse than the puppy season, it's beyond a joke."
Both Johnson and Badorek also want the Animal Welfare Act strengthened.
Dogs should not be allowed to be chained up longer than one hour per day - as is law in Switzerland - kennels should be insulated and off the ground, and owners should have to provide warm bedding.
Badorek believes change is happening, albeit very slowly.
"I personally think that the amount of cases of animals; the way in which they're dumped seems to be reducing in Kaitaia.
"I'm not getting so many puppies found drowned or in rubbish bins or in boxes on the side of the road.
"I feel like I am making a difference, but it's a long way away from changing the mindset of people. And the importance of desexing can't be overstated. This dumping won't happen if they can't reproduce."
Johnson's message is simple: "Reach out and ask for help. We're here to help with anything."
Visit www.donnadoolittlesanimalrescue.co.nz and www.bayofislandsanimalrescue.org.nz if you would like to help.
HBRC does not allow motor bikes of any description where the birds' bodies were found.