Animal cruelty is not only abhorrent, it is a known path to violence against humans in later life. But with chilling cases of animal abuse, torture and gruesome killings making regular headlines, what can be done to curb the abuse? Brendan Manning reports.
It is often said that a dog is man's best friend.
However, with more than 6500 animal abuse complaints involving dogs alone last year, statistics argue otherwise.
A new Animal Welfare Strategy and Amendment Bill has been announced as the Government attempts to crackdown on perpetrators of animal abuse. Yet horrific cases of neglect and ill-treatment continue to come to light, often with little consequences for those responsible.
Just last month, six Northland families called for action after their beloved pet cats were callously shot with slug guns. Dunedin pet owners have been warned to keep their pets indoors after dead cats were found hanging from trees, strung up with wire.
And though nearly 14,000 complaints of animal abuse were reported to the SPCA last year - an increase of 751 from 2011 - a mere 44 cases made it to a courtroom.
Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) national president Bob Kerridge says animal abuse cases have been growing due to rising public consciousness of animal welfare and an increase in companion animals.
"It's not what I would term an epidemic. I think it's just a natural rise in the number of animals."
According to Ministry for Primary Industries statistics, 68 per cent of New Zealand households have at least one pet.
Mr Kerridge says people are now more likely to "dob in" anyone neglecting or mistreating an animal. But without the public tip-offs, many animal cruelty cases will never be uncovered.
Animal welfare inspectors deal with abuse situations from the disturbing to the "bizarre".
"We have, every year, at least a dozen cases which we look at and say, 'My God, how could they do that'?"
From mutilation, to beating animals to "within an inch of their lives", the SPCA's annual 'list of shame' highlights the worst of human offending against defenceless creatures. It makes for grim reading.
Two main forms of animal cruelty exist, Mr Kerridge says: neglect, and callous, cowardly attacks on animals.
Neglect makes up 90 to 95 per cent of all cruelty cases, and includes leaving animals chained outside without food, water or shelter, or injuries that are never attended to.
"We've had a number of situations where the cruelty has been quite intense."
A North Canterbury forest lifestyle block owner is facing animal welfare charges after beating four pigs with an iron bar when they wouldn't get into a trailer.
Clayton Dovey is also charged with "engaging in behaviour that amounted to psychological abuse" of a person subject to a protection order by bludgeoning to death 13 chickens.
The SPCA does not take people to court lightly, choosing education over prosecution for the majority of neglect cases.
The organisation took 44 prosecutions against alleged perpetrators of abuse last year, seven more than in 2011.
"Quite often it's just either genuine lack of knowledge, or just sheer laziness."
Meanwhile, the intentional physical attacks often involve twisted individuals carrying out sometimes unbelievable acts of violence against another living creature.
Young people inflicting cruelty on defenceless animals is disturbing and abhorrent. But abusing animals is also a known trigger for committing violence against humans in later life.
"The link is huge," Mr Kerridge says.
But it's not only children and teenagers committing acts of animal cruelty. The single biggest driver behind intentional animal abuse is an adult inflicting psychological abuse against their partner through cruelty to an animal "they know the other partner adores".
"If they're threatening their partner, they will threaten [them] through the animal," Mr Kerridge says.
Sadly, a lot of the threats are carried out, usually by men.
In 2010, David Hamuera Snook was sentenced to two years and four months in prison after ripping the head off his former partner's kitten.
The Pukekohe District Court heard Snook went to his former partner's house drunk and an argument ensued.
He then sat at the dining table, taking the family kitten in his arms, and while laughing, twisted its head off in front of his former partner's children.
Pets as Pawns, a survey published last year, sponsored jointly by Women's Refuge and the SPCA, provided the first New Zealand data on the link between animal abuse and domestic violence.
One in three women surveyed said they delayed leaving violent relationships because they feared their pets and other animals would be killed or tortured.
Of the 203 Women's Refuge clients involved, 111 (55 per cent) said animal cruelty was part of their experience of family violence. At some point a family member or their partner had threatened to kill one of their animals. One third also reported injury or death of the animal concerned.
A 20-year-old woman told researchers her partner used to abuse her cat as a way of saying: "This is what I will do to you if you don't toe the line."
A 70-year-old woman revealed how her husband chopped her budgie's head off, saying: "This is what I can do to you."
Mr Kerridge says when cruelty is detected in a home with children, the SPCA notifies Child Youth and Family and police through a working relationship called "the link".
In terms of court outcomes, the SPCA is generally unhappy with the weak sentences handed down to perpetrators of animal abuse.
MPs brought in harsher sentencing options in 2010, raising the maximum penalty for animal abuse from three to five years' jail. However, the SPCA believes sentences are still comparatively light, and it is concerned at some judges' comments.
"We had recently a case of a dog fighting situation and the judge said, 'Well, you've got to remember that this is an animal case, it doesn't involve people, it doesn't involve children ... it doesn't involve substance abuse - it's only an animal'."
Jason Godsiff pleaded guilty to his part in killing 23 seals near Kaikoura in November 2010.
He used a galvanised pipe to bludgeon the animals. Some were only days old.
Judge Ian Mill described the killings as premeditated and on an unprecedented scale. He sentenced Godsiff to two years' jail.
However, after appealing to the High Court, Godsiff's sentence was reduced to eight months' home detention.
But despite the appalling acts of violence, Mr Kerridge says New Zealand doesn't fare too badly.
While there is a lack of studies comparing animal abuse between different countries, "in general terms we are regarded quite highly in terms of our care of animals".
By the numbers