Three arrested over attack on sheep

Three students have been arrested for an attack on a sheep that Tauranga SPCA described as one of the worst animal cruelty cases it had seen.

The attackers blew the sheep's jaw off with fireworks and attempted to set it on fire at Mt Maunganui on Sunday night.

Early today a police patrol stopped the three 17-year-old students in a vehicle in the town.

"A number of items of interest were in the vehicle and further inquiries indicated their involvement," Senior Sergeant Glenn Saunders, of Tauranga, said.

"While there remain some inquiries to determine exactly what happened to the sheep, police have charged the three students with cruelty to an animal and disorderly behaviour."

The students, who had been holidaying at Mt Maunganui, had been bailed to appear in Tauranga District Court on Thursday.

The attackers were seen kicking what a member of the public initially thought was a person, on the base track of The Mount around 10.30pm on Sunday.

"When attended by police they discovered it was a sheep and it appeared to have suffered a very violent death," Acting Senior Sergeant Craig Madden, of Mount Maunganui police, said yesterday.

"It appeared that fireworks had been placed in the mouth of the animal, which blew off its lower jaw."

It also had an open stomach wound and attempts had been made to set it on fire.

Tauranga SPCA manager John Esdaile urged people to give the offenders up, saying the "next step" for people involved in this kind behaviour was offending against humans.

"This sort of offending never just stops with animals, that's where it starts," he told Radio New Zealand.

"These people are the sexual offenders and predators of the future and if the people out there know something about this... then they need to either get in touch with the police or the SPCA."

Mr Esdaile said the incident was on a par with another in the region last year in which a cat was found nailed to a street sign.

Its tail and three paws were severed - injuries believed to have been inflicted while it was still alive - and the fourth paw was hanging by a thread of skin.

A 14-year-old boy was charged with wilful ill-treatment of an animal following a plea to the public for information on the incident.

The attack also follows the mauling last week of an elderly dog by two pitbulls.

Lincoln, a 14-year-old ridgeback cross, was attacked by the pit bulls that had been set on to him in Porirua after he was earlier stolen from his Titahi Bay home.

It appeared Lincoln had been taken to be used as a bait dog.

A man has been charged with stealing a dog and is to appear in Porirua District Court today.

- NZPA