Man who starved dog barred from owning animals for 5 years

A Papakura man who almost starved his dog to death was sentenced yesterday in the Papakura District Court.

Jared Kelly, 23, entered an early guilty plea to ill-treating an animal. He was fined $350 plus $130 court costs, ordered to pay reparations of $386, and disqualified from owning animals for five years.

On 19 June 2013 an SPCA Auckland Inspector visited a Papakura property in response to a tip-off from a member of the public and found an adult male boxer/Staffordshire terrier crossbreed dog chained on bare earth with no shelter. The dog was so thin that his ribcage, backbone, and hipbones were clearly visible, and so weak that he struggled to bark.

The dog was uplifted and transported to Auckland SPCA for veterinary examination and treatment. The SPCA veterinarian found the dog also had a severe flea infestation, a severe worm burden, very overgrown claws, and open raw pressure sores on its front legs and rump. The veterinarian concluded that the dog would have died of starvation if left in the hands of its owner.

When questioned on 25 June 2013, Kelly admitted that the dog’s shelter was inadequate and that he had lost interest in the dog. He had thought about having the dog put down but hadn’t done anything about it. He knew the dog wasn’t well, as he noticed it had stopped barking, had lost muscle, and its movements had become shaky. But he had not sought any expert advice or veterinary treatment for the dog. He surrendered the dog to SPCA Auckland.

The dog weighed 15.5kg upon arrival but after just over one month in the care of SPCA Auckland he weighed 22.3kg, an increase of 6.8kg.

“This is a very sad case where an animal who depended solely on his owner for attention and affection was chained up, with no food or shelter, simply because that owner had ‘lost interest’ and ignored his responsibilities,” says Bob Kerridge, Executive Director, SPCA Auckland.

“Losing interest does not give any human the right to neglect an animal in a backyard to starve to death, and the Court’s five-year disqualification from owning any animals will hopefully ensure such will not occur again at the hands of this person.

“Unfortunately, the dog has since had to be humanely euthanised due to serious behaviour problems that meant we could not responsibly re-home him. This is a great pity and almost certainly the result of the neglect that he suffered at the hands of his former owner.”

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