NZ@Noon: Jail time for tail crime

The SPCA said the dog had been in agony with an infection after its owner tied a rubber band round its tail. Photo / Whangarei SPCA

Headlines around the regions today include include a man jailed for fastening a band around his dog's tail, a wandering cow shot in Whangarei, and a senior who's qualified for a duathlon championship.

Eighty-five-year-old Terrance McKenzie from Hawkes Bay has qualified for the world duathlon championships next year in Adelaide.

A man in Whangarei has been jailed for tying a rubber band around his dog's tail in an attempt to shorten it.

In the Bay of Plenty, a pet store has sparked a biosecurity risk after mistakenly selling an invasive weed as a pond plant.

An animal control officer shot a wandering Hereford cow after reports it was on the main road near Mokau.

A Tauranga couple on a mission to help people in Africa have been diverted to Madagascar in a bid to avoid the Ebola outbreak.

The Wairarapa man behind the Iwi/Kiwi billboards in National's 2005 election campaign is at it again - this time targeting a Labour/Green coalition government.

Northland police are nabbing up to five criminals a week, thanks to Facebook.