SPCA List of Shame highlights need for support

SPCA’s Annual Appeal kicks off November 2-8

One of the most shameful acts in this year’s SPCA List of Shame is two men filming themselves while encouraging dogs to viciously attack two goats, and then posting the videos on social media.

This year’s List of Shame is being released in conjunction with the 2015 SPCA Annual Appeal which is running between Monday 2nd and Sunday 8th of November and is the organisation’s biggest fundraising event for the year.

The SPCA releases its List of Shame annually to raise awareness of animal welfare issues and the ongoing need for education and vigilance around preventing cruelty to animals.

A Greymouth man is also included for his crime of wilfully ill-treating two cats. He was convicted and sentenced for two years and five months imprisonment after he beat a cat to death, cut off its paws and hung them outside his garage as a memento. He also caught his neighbour’s cat, set it alight with petrol and filmed it as it ran around in a blaze. He then dumped it, thinking it was dead.

Royal New Zealand SPCA Chief Executive Ric Odom says the job of animal rescue and protection is often a challenging and heart breaking one.

“Sadly the List of Shame shows the SPCA and the public there is still work to be done to protect New Zealand’s animals.

“We have deliberately released the List of Shame on the week of our Annual appeal as SPCAs around New Zealand need funds to continue their work. The List of Shame highlights the on-going need for the inspectorates who daily rescue abused and neglected animals as well as providing education, vet care and shelter for these vulnerable pets,” says Ric.

“The entire SPCA team and volunteers would love to see the days where we didn’t have enough content to create a List of Shame. We are not there yet but we are committed to doing everything we can to prevent the sort of cruelty our teams deal with daily.”

Molly is the face of this year’s Annual Appeal, and is one of more than 56,000 animals a year that need help nationwide. 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.

Four-month-old lab cross Molly, whose owners went to Wellington for a week and left her alone tied up in the backyard, became tangled in the rope tether and it cut through her neck so deeply it almost cut her jugular vein. If she wasn’t rescued by an SPCA inspector, she probably would have died that day. Since coming to the SPCA she’s had four surgeries and fortunately she is on the mend.

Ric says the SPCA’s work is almost entirely funded by donations and legacies of generous New Zealanders. “Our gratitude goes out to all those individuals, groups and organisations who support us. Hundreds of volunteers, and their pets will be hitting the streets during our Annual Appeal and we give our thanks to them and everyone who donates.”

Donations can be made to street collectors around the country from Friday 6th November, at any ASB branch or online atwww.spcaannualappeal.org.nz.

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