A Gisborne farm manager was yesterday banned from owning or managing horses because of neglect.
Matthew Brown pleaded guilty in Gisborne District Court to nine charges of ill-treatment, failure to attend to the physical welfare needs and health of the horses, and failure to comply with an animalwelfare inspector's requirements.
As well as the two-year ban, he was sentenced to 150 hours' community work and ordered to pay $3016 reparations.
The court was told that inspectors from the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and the SPCA visited a Te Karaka property in June 2005, finding 35 horses in poor condition. Most had not been broken in or handled and were riddled with worms.
No one was present at the property but Brown was later issued with an animal welfare notice to prevent or mitigate the suffering.
Later that month an SPCA inspector and vet returned and found the horses had not been drenched, so the vet discussed a plan for drenching, culling and dividing, and feeding particular horses.
At another visit on July 8 they found that the horses had still not been drenched, several were in very poor condition, and one was dead. When inspectors visited again later that month, the horses had still not been drenched and three had to be put down.
On July 18, MAF obtained a temporary enforcement order directing the defendant to attend immediately to the needs of the remaining horses, which he eventually complied with.
MAF animal welfare investigations manager Charles Cadwallader said outside the court that Brown was given ample opportunity to avoid court. "There is no defence or justification for this neglect."
