You may recall earlier this month we told you about a cruelty case which was brought before the courts following investigations carried out by a Wellington SPCA Animal Welfare Inspector. You can read that report here.

Today in Lower Hutt District court the man received a four month prison sentence and was banned from owning an animal for the rest of his life.

Read the entire story as reported on Stuff.co.nz today, here.

Wellington SPCA Animal Welfare Inspectors work tirelessly with our community to ensure that pet owners understand and meet their legal obligations.

In cases where people fail to meet care for their animals appropriately, our inspectors are able to make prosecutions under the Animal Welfare Act. The SPCA is the only animal welfare organisation able to do this – but we receive no government funding to pay for associated costs. If you would like to support our inspectors in their work, please consider making a donation today.

Below is a story appearing in today’s Dominion Post about a prosecution case we have recently brought to court:

A man whose starving dog resorted to eating grass, sticks and dirt before it died has pleaded guilty to neglecting the animal.

SPCA inspectors found Mark Brendon Robertson’s black Staffordshire bull terrier lying dead under a flax bush in the Lower Hutt suburb of Taita.

“The dog was in a severely emaciated condition with its ribs, backbone and pelvic bone clearly visible,” the SPCA told Lower Hutt District Court.

The male dog, named Sid, weighed just 10.5kg, half the usual weight of a normal dog of its breed and age.

An autopsy showed its stomach contents consisted of grass, stick fragments and dirt, with no trace of normal dog food. There was almost no fat in the dog’s abdomen, or under its skin. It also had high levels of parasites in its system.

The dog was severely emaciated when it died, a veterinarian’s report said.

Starvation was the most likely cause of death, the vet said. “This dog would have been suffering unnecessary pain, distress and discomfort over an extended period of time, as evidenced by its very poor body condition.”

The dog was found dead in September 2007. Several attempts were made to track Robertson down, but he was not found till July 2009.

He admitted owning the dog, but denied being responsible for its death, saying a house sitter was caring for it at the time.

Robertson, 44, repeatedly failed to appear in court, and a warrant was issued for his arrest. He was arrested on Tuesday night after his mugshot was in The Dominion Post’s Capital Beat section, and a member of public tipped off police.

He pleaded guilty in Lower Hutt District Court yesterday to failing to provide proper and sufficient food to an animal and was remanded in custody for sentencing later this month.

- Story courtesy of The Dominion Post

Back in February we featured an article in The Dominion Post highlighting a very sad issue.

At the time, we were holding approximately 17 sets of pets’ ashes that remained unclaimed by their owners. Not only was the sight of piles of tiny forgotten boxes upsetting, they also represented a financial burden to us, as many of the pets cremations had never been paid for.

The ashes were scattered at Huha Animal Sanctuary

Following the publication of the story and some investigative work, about five owners eventually came forward to reclaim their pets. For the pets’ ashes that remained, we decided an appropriate send-off was in order. So, with the help of our friends at Huha Animal Sanctuary, the unclaimed ashes were last week scattered in a specially designated place on the property, overlooking the Kaitoke Valley.

We are able to offer cremation service for your pet – please give our reception team a call on 04 389 8044 ext. 0 for more information.

On behalf of Carolyn – owner of Huha Charitable Trust (and Wellington SPCA board member)  we would like to send a huge thank you to RD1 for supplying and transporting a 5,000 litre tank to provide 50 horses from a  riding school in Heathcote with life-saving water (as well as some other useful items). Their generosity and the quick-thinking of Carolyn has already hit the press – Wellington woman’s horse mercy mission!!

We would also like to say a huge thank you to Simillimum Homeopathic Pharmacy and Arthur Holmes Ltd who didn’t miss a beat when we asked them to donate 400 bottles of Rescue Remedy – to help ease the stress of humans and animals caught up in the aftermath of the Christchurch earthquake.

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We are looking for help from the public after 10 two to three-week-old kittens were found abandoned last week in a New World carrier basket in front of the cricket clubrooms on Fitzherbert Road in Wainouiomata.

Local police informed us that a member of the public had discovered the two litters of kittens, alone and terrified in the basket. Wellington SPCA animal welfare inspector Clare Stretton attended, however, when she arrived, the basket containing the kittens had disappeared. Despite making local enquiries Inspector Stretton could not locate the basket anywhere near the location stated by police.

Miraculously, after driving around the local area for a short time, Inspector Stretton came across a group of children carrying the basket, with all 10 kittens still remaining inside.

“While these are certainly not the first litters of abandoned kittens we have rescued this season, t’s certainly one of the largest litters we have taken into our care in one go” explained Inspector Stretton.

The abandoned kittens are most likely the product of an undesexed female cat that has been allowed to breed. We cared for nearly 1,200 unwanted and abandoned kittens so far in 2010 alone – and we continue to receive litters on a near daily basis.

“We offer a 24-hour, 7 day-a-week service as well as cheap desexing programmes, so we are always available to offer help to anyone who finds themselves in difficulty caring for their pet” says Inspector Stretton. “But, pet owners need to take responsibility for getting their animals desexed to avoid all these unwanted babies being born.”

While the maximum penalty for abandoning an animal is 6 months in prison and/or a $25,000 fine, the person responsible could potentially face a charge of ‘wilful ill-treatment of an animal’ which carries a much heavier penalty of a maximum 5 years in prison and/or a $100,000 fine.
After a thorough veterinary check was carried out at our Newtown animal centre, all of the kittens were immediately sent out into the care of fosterers. If anyone is interested in adopting a kitten from us or has information about the abandonment of these kittens, please contact us on 04 389 8044.