By BRIDGET CARTER
The SPCA has laid charges against a 21-year-old South Aucklander who, it says, killed a cat by putting it in a microwave oven.
Auckland SPCA Senior Inspector Bruce Wills said the man was at the cat owner's house drinking and placed the two-year-old ginger and white female cat in
the microwave.
The owner, who was in bed, heard screeching noises from the kitchen.
She went to investigate and found her cat in the microwave.
The accused man had left, and when the SPCA arrived, the cat was dead.
Mr Wills said the incident occurred in March, and the SPCA laid charges yesterday.
It was the first SPCA case of its kind and the worst example of animal cruelty he had come across.
The pathologist's report showed that the cat had been microwaved for two minutes and would have suffered acute distress.
The animal died of hyperthermia as a result of radiation.
Mr Wills said the microwave would have heated the cat's brain until it could not function.
"It is very painful," he said.
"It is the worst case of animal cruelty I've seen."
There was also evidence of previous incidents of cruelty by the alleged offender toward the cat, he said.
The charge, of wilful ill-treatment, has been laid under the Animal Welfare Act, which provides for penalties of up to three years in prison and a $50,000 fine.
