Teen jailed for puppy cruelty

A Taranaki teen has been jailed for five months for cruelty to a puppy that later lost a leg.

Ritchie James Frederick Gwatkins, 17, yesterday pleaded guilty at Hawera District Court to the cruel ill treatment of an animal and two charges of breaching community work, The Taranaki Daily News reported.

Gwatkins picked up the puppy and threw it to the ground from chest height after it scared his kittens while he was feeding them. The puppy had to have a leg amputated.

Judge John McDonald said the puppy was only doing what came naturally when it had approached the food.

"I wonder what you would have done if it was a young child scaring them," he said to Gwatkins who was also banned from owning or controlling an animal for two years.

- NZPA