"This is a case of outrageous neglect. That anyone could idly stand by and do nothing while 20 animals died unnecessarily simply beggars belief," says Ric Odom, chief executive officer of the Royal New Zealand SPCA.
The plight of Wordsworth's calves first came to the attention of the SPCA on November 17 last year when an SPCA Inspector noticed one dead calf and eight calves in poor condition at a property in Ohaua Road, Tawera, about 27km south of Whakatane.
The following day the Inspector returned with two veterinarians to examine the calves.
Wordsworth was not at home. All eight live calves had evidence of scours (diarrhoea) with faeces caked to their tails, and appeared to be on a grass-only diet.
Three of the eight calves were assessed to be very small, emaciated, and weak, were not grazing, and were far too young to be weaned onto grass.
The veterinarian determined that unless the three emaciated calves were given milk within 24 hours they would die. An official notice was issued to the defendant instructing him to provide milk to the three calves urgently and by November 19.
Later that day Wordsworth telephoned the Inspector and told her he would not be complying with the notice and warned her to stay away from his property or "things would get nasty".
The Inspector returned that same day and took possession of the three emaciated calves for urgent veterinary attention. When examined, the calves were found to weigh between 27.35kg and 30.6kg, less than half of the recommended weaning weight of 65 to 85kg.
One calf was euthanised immediately as it was near death. The other two calves died within 48 hours.
Blood and fecal testing revealed that one calf had a salmonella infection and another had a yersinia pseudotuberculosis infection (which causes tuberculosis-like symptoms in animals). Both calves were anaemic and had theileria parasites present in their blood. The remaining calf was shedding coccidian parasites.
Wordsworth admitted he had purchased 33 four- to eight-day-old calves in September 2014. He had sold five and kept the remaining 28, of which 20 had died. He claimed he had fed them milk for around eights weeks and that they had been on grass for around a week prior to the intervention of the SPCA. He hadn't sought veterinary treatment for any of the calves - he just assumed they were dying of scours.
"The SPCA hopes that this sentence sends a clear message to others in the farming community," Mr Odom said. "If your animals are dying it is your responsibility to call in the vet. If you fail to do so, we will hold you accountable."
