Criminals convicted of cruelty to animals should have the book thrown at them, said New Zealand First leader Winston Peters said yesterday.
Mr Peters also renewed his claim that dog farming was taking place in New Zealand - for human consumption in the Auckland area, rather than export toAsia.
And he noted there had been little public concern over horse meat exports to Europe.
Mr Peters said the animal abusers of today were tomorrow's murderers, rapists and child abusers.
He cited a Christchurch case two weeks ago in which a man was sentenced to three months jail, fined $2500 and banned from having a pet for five years - his penalty for bashing his malnourished dog on the head with a baseball bat, taping its mouth shut and leaving it to die.
St Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of animals, would be beside himself at some of today's cases, Mr Peters told an SPCA meeting in Rotorua yesterday.
While the Animal Welfare Act provided for fines of up to $50,000 and sentences of three years in jail for wilful cruelty, such sentences were rare.
Mr Peters said there should be encouragement for near-maximum sentences if offending was near to the most serious case.
He said the law was too contradictory.
"It is legal to butcher livestock for food but not to cause them to suffer during slaughter. It is legal to kill chicken for the pot, but not to allow fighting cocks to kill each other.
"Kittens can be drowned but not abandoned.
"Certain types of birds are protected but others are annihilated."
He said anyone who looked at the treatment of animals could not help but be confused.
"Hunters cherish their hunting dogs, but kill and trap wildlife without conscience or regret. People coddle furry house pets but think nothing of wearing the skins of animals.
"At animal farms and zoos, parents introduce their children to animals usually found in the wild but see no harm in exposing them to circus acts which degrade animals."
New Zealand First has not yet reached a party position on the private members bill banning docking of dogs' tails.
