Starving animals rescued

Emaciated dogs without shelter or sufficient food are a constant problem for Wanganui animal welfare inspectors.

But the local SPCA says most complaints stem from a lack of animal welfare education on the part of owners.

The Wanganui SPCA received 299 animal welfare complaints last year, none of which resulted in prosecution.

The most recent complaints which have come to the SPCA's attention related to cattle and sheep, Wanganui centre manager Val Waters said.

"It's been a hard winter, paddocks have been churned to mud with all the wet weather."

The SPCA had been talking to stock owners about the need for supplementary feed when grass was scarce, Ms Waters said.

However, dogs without shelter and in poor condition were a constant cause for concern, she said.

Recently, emaciated dogs had been rescued by Wanganui animal inspectors who had nurtured them back to a healthy weight.

"Generally, if we speak to the owners we tell them they've got to worm their dogs and increase their daily rations.

"Within three weeks we can generally see an improvement if the owners are complying with our instructions. Sometimes it's just an education thing."

The SPCA are alerted to cases of animal neglect from neighbours, passers-by, friends and even relatives, Ms Waters said.

Nationally, SPCA inspectors received 13,089 animal welfare complaints last year, 37 of which resulted in prosecution.

Recent cases of animal cruelty and neglect include:

A 13-year-old Whangarei Boys' High School student who ripped the head off a duckling last month then threw rocks at the duck's mother until it died.

A West Coast farmer who was sentenced last week after 60 cattle were found dead and dying. None could be saved.

A Waikato hunter filmed two young pig dogs attacking and chewing on a live pig, which was captive in an overgrown backyard pen in Waikato earlier this year.

The Royal New Zealand Society for the Protection of Animals could only take action in cases following tip-offs from the public, chief executive Robyn Kippenberger said.

The frequency of complaints varied, depending on people's vigilance.

"Basically we don't go out and trawl the streets to find animal abuse cases. Generally it's somebody who saw something on a farm, or it's somebody who's noticed something from the road, or it's someone who's picked up an animal.

"It does depend very much on what the public are giving us."

The SPCA was successful in nearly all the prosecutions it took, Ms Kippenberger said.

However, court cases were resource heavy. Big cases could take up to six years to get a successful conviction.

A study by the SPCA in partnership with Women's Refuge showed that one in three women delayed leaving violent relationships because they feared pets and other animals would be killed or tortured.

Of those, one-quarter said their children had witnessed violence against animals. APNZ