A Rotorua woman fears for her safety after finding that her 2-month-old kitten had been hanged at her home.
Gemma White had returned home recently and found her kitten alive on her lawn, with twine wrapped tightly around its neck. It also had a dislocated leg.
She said it looked like the animal had wriggled itself loose from being hanged in a tree in her front yard but had not been able to move any further because of its injured leg.
Miss White said she became extremely distraught and rushed to the home of her parents who called an emergency vet.
"I was absolutely gutted - I'm a real animal lover."
She said she didn't know what kind of person would do that to an animal and she thought the person must have been "really sick, twisted and sadistic".
The vet was able to relocate and bandage up the kitten's leg and told Miss White he would be back the next day to check on it.
However, the next day the kitten's leg popped back out and the vet advised Miss White it would be kinder to put her pet down.
She was still really disturbed about what had happened.
"People need to realise they can't do that to animals - it's not cool," she said.
Somebody had also been entering her property and letting her dog off its leash, which she thought was "weird".
Now feeling unsafe in her own home, Miss White said she would be staying with her parents while she looked for a new place to live.
"I just don't feel safe anymore.
"The dog starts barking in the middle of the night and I freak out."
The kitten was one of six born to two of Miss White's older cats two months ago.
After giving three kittens away she had three left. The dead one had belonged to her 3-year-old daughter.
The SPCA has now advised Miss White to adopt out remaining pets, 8-month-old puppy Tykis and the dead kitten's two other siblings.
Nobody from the SPCA was available to talk to The Daily Post yesterday but Miss White said staff told her they thought it would be safer to get rid of them in case someone was targeting her. "I don't want them to share the same fate."
Miss White said that while she had no clues as to who could be targeting her, the SPCA was investigating and was going to speak to her neighbours.
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