Reward offered over sheep massacre

File photo / Hawke's Bay Today

An animal rights group is offering a $10,000 reward after a sheep massacre near Timaru which it is says is one of the country's worst animal abuse cases.

Twelve heavily pregnant ewes were run down by a vehicle while in their paddock at Waitohi near Temuka north of Timaru on Sunday.

Nine were killed and three others had to be to be shot. One had been set on fire and another died in a pool of its own organs and unborn triplets.

Paw Justice said the $10,000 reward was for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the offenders who are still being sought.

Paw Justice spokeswoman Melanie Douglas told the Timaru Herald the reward was to get a possibly psychotic person off the streets. She said setting a live sheep on fire was particularly disturbing.

The attack was horrific and upsetting.

Agriculture Minister David Carter condemned the attack, after last month welcoming the introduction of stricter penalties for animal abuse.

It was one of the worst and most sickening acts of cruelty, he told the paper.

The new law came into effect on July 1 and increased the maximum sentence for wilful ill-treatment of animals from three to five years in jail and doubled the fine to $100,000.

Mr Carter said the offenders were gutless and stupid, and the police needed to put every effort into tracking them down.

- NZPA