ROYAL NEW ZEALAND SOCIETY FOR THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO ANIMALS

For release: 9 May 2007

SPCA INSPECTOR AWARDED MEDAL FOR OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTION

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An outstanding contribution to animal welfare on a national level has earned Jim Boyd the Royal New Zealand SPCA’s Gold Medal.

The former police officer turned SPCA Inspector received his award during the Society’s annual conference in Wellington this weekend.

Mr Boyd, who is based in the Bay of Islands, is renowned for investigating and successfully prosecuting some of the toughest and most significant animal abuse cases of recent years. His efforts have also prompted a number of death threats with, at one stage, a price being put on his head.

Jim Boyd led the SPCA team that brought the leaders of a Central North Island dog-fighting ring to justice in 2005. Earlier this year, he led another band of SPCA investigators who uncovered more than 160 cats kept in atrocious conditions on a property near Dannevirke.

On his own Northland patch, Jim Boyd brought the prosecution that led to the longest prison sentence to date under the Animal Welfare Act of 1999; nine months to a local man for dragging a dog behind his car. Mr Boyd was also the first person to lay a charge under the new act, to secure a conviction under it and to lodge an appeal under the act. He estimates that he has prosecuted 200 animal cruelty cases, of which he has lost two.

“Jim’s investigations are known for their persistence, meticulous planning and general operational excellence. They reflect the depth of his personal commitment to combating animal cruelty, his ingrained professionalism and his unwillingness to admit defeat,” says the Royal New Zealand SPCA’s National Chief Executive, Robyn Kippenberger.

“In addition to his work as an inspector, Jim is a member of the SPCA’s National Council and of its National Inspectorate Advisory Committee. In these roles, he is making a tremendous contribution to our work on behalf of animals across New Zealand. He truly deserves our Gold Medal,” she says.

Mr Boyd credits his police background with providing some of the skills required as an SPCA inspector but describes animal cases as inherently harder to solve than those just involving humans.

“The big difference is that people are able to talk and give you statements that tell you what’s happened, whereas, with animals, we primarily have to rely on evidence of physical injuries, body condition and similar matters.

“I do this job because I get angry at the atrocities committed against animals. Some of the things I’ve seen would make you weep. The best way to respond is to channel my energies into carrying out the best investigation possible in the circumstances. It helps that, once I get into a case, I’m congenitally incapable of backing down,” he says.

Jim Boyd ascribes much of his success to his close working partnership with his wife, Gail, who is the Bay of Islands SPCA’s Manager and a former Senior Inspector with the Auckland SPCA. The couple also run an export kiwifruit business and share their home with five orphan children, as well as with horses, cats, dogs, birds, mice and tropical fish.

ENDS

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