SPCA 2014 List of Shame Released

A month old kitten found deformed in a plastic bag, a beaten up eight week old puppy, pigs beaten by their owner with a metal rod and mutilated possums top this year’s SPCA List of Shame.

The list has been released ahead of the 2014 SPCA Annual Appeal, which runs from the 3rd to 9th November and is the organisation’s biggest fundraising event for the year.

A Whangarei possum trapper leads the list for the harshest penalties after he filmed himself mutilating and taunting a number of possums before decapitating or bludgeoning them to death. He was charged by the New Zealand Police and imprisoned for two years and four months.

“These are just a sample of the many grievously inhumane acts of animal abuse and neglect that were brought to the attention of SPCA inspectors around the country over the past 12 months,” says Royal New Zealand SPCA Chief Executive Ric Odom.

“Unfortunately, these cases are all too familiar to our inspectors who are then tasked with the heartbreaking job of determining whether the animals are able to be rehabilitated, released or re-homed – or, as a last resort, put down,” he says. “This list of shame highlights the reality of animal cruelty in New Zealand and clearly demonstrates why the SPCA is such an important charity.”

In most instances, the cost of investigating and prosecuting these cases is met by the SPCA, with costs for many cases running into the tens of thousands of dollars.

Ric says the SPCA’s work is almost entirely funded by donations, sponsorships and legacies of generous New Zealanders. “We are enormously grateful to those individuals, groups and organisations. Without their support, we simply could not do the work we do.”

Donations can be made to street collectors around the country from Friday 7th November, in store at any ASB branch or online at www.spcaannualappeal.org.nz.

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