Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Auckland, New Zealand

Auckland SPCA has been serving the community since 1883 ...

check out our new education & conference centre

all about adopting a new compainion animal

<

June 2009

>

prev

Today is

next

* * * * * *

Assisi blog

Supporters of the Auckland SPCA will be aware that donations to our Animals’ Voice magazine Assisi Bear Campaign has topped $28,500 – enough to rescue a Chinese bile bear and meet the costs of its care into the future.

Liane Donovan is our “Assisi Ambassador” and is in China to welcome our Assisi bear to the Animals’ Asia sanctuary for bile bears in Chengdu, and you can read Liane's blog here hamster-assisi.blogspot.com

KITTEN FOSTER HOMES URGENTLY NEEDED ! ! !

Foster homes for cats and kittens are still desperately needed! If you think you can look after a few very cute bundles of fluff for about 3-4 weeks (all food, litter, supplies provided by us), please contact our Foster Co-ordinator, Rebecca Laird, by email: rebecca.laird@spca.org.nz or phone 09 2562525.

Longest jail term yet for animal cruelty

Jeffrey Hurring, 19, a supermarket shelf-filler, was sentenced in the Dunedin District Court to 12 months' jail for killing an 18-month-old male Jack Russell dog in Dunedin on February 2 this year. He was also barred from owning an animal for 10 years. Hurring admitted killing the dog, named Diesel and owned by a friend, by first trying to strangle it using a chain, his hands and his feet. When the dog did not die after 30 minutes, he poured petrol down its throat, stuffed a pillow-case down its throat and finally hit it on the head with a spade. The impact broke the dog's back and jaw, killing it [more...]

WAIUKU GOAT KILLER SENTENCED TO 2 YEARS

Kurt Dennis SHARP, 18 years old of Hamilton Rd, Awhitu was sentenced on 25th May 2009 to a total of 2 years imprisonment in part for the theft and torture of 3 goats on 3 separate occasions in the early hours of the 9th February 2009 in the Waiuku area.

Sharp whose other offences included numerous burglaries was driving in the Waiuku are when he hitched a tethered goat to the rear of his car and dragged it for several kilometres until it was dead. He then repeated this action a further time causing death to another goat and attempted a third incident but was unsuccessful as he was disturbed by the goat’s owner [more...]

CATS!

Thanks to everyone who placed a bid on our Trade Me auction of the ultimate CATS experience and help raise funds for the animals in our care !

The winner received two Grand Circle tickets for the Opening Night of CATS at the Civic Theatre on Saturday 6th June 2009; PLUS two very special invitations to attend the exclusive Opening Night Afterparty and meet the cast, crew and sponsors of the show in the Civic's Wintergarden; PLUS two VIP CATS Gift Bags containing CATS souvenir programme and other memorabilia; PLUS a fine dining experience at one of Auckland's finest restaurants; PLUS Champagne and French wine; PLUS two nights for two, including breakfast, at a 4-star harbourside hotel, with room complemented with a beautiful flower arrangement and gourmet basket to enjoy during the stay! [Read Full Details Here]

CATS - Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber

INHUMANE TREATMENT OF PIGS MUST STOP

The SPCA has renewed its call for a ban on sow stalls and farrowing crates, following last night's screening by TVNZ's 'Sunday' Programme of footage of pigs subjected to these extreme forms of confinement.

"We call on Agriculture Minister David Carter to ensure that the Animal Welfare Code for Pigs is altered, as soon as possible, to ban these cruel practices," says the SPCA's National Chief Executive, Robyn Kippenberger. "It is total nonsense for a code that is meant to reflect the humane principles of the 1999 Animal Welfare Act, to allow pigs to be kept for most of their lives in such tight conditions that they can't even turn round. Pigs are an intelligent and sensitive species and there is considerable evidence that this type of ongoing cruelty can lead to demented behaviour, such as biting their cage bars."

SPCA Auckland Executive Director, Bob Kerridge, agrees "This cruel and barbaric method of farming totally contravenes the Animal Welfare Act and is aided and abetted by a 'Code of Welfare' trhat allows it. How crazy is that! No animal deserves such treatment and we must do all we can to stop it." he says [more...]

Can you help a Kaimanawa Horse?

Between 150 and 180 Kaimanawa Horses are to be taken from the herd this year to keep numbers at a manageable level. The Kaimanawa Wild Horse Welfare Trust is looking for people interested in rehoming a horse from the 2009 muster.

If you have experience handling young or unhandled horses and safe fencing, please contact the Kaimanawa Wild Horse Welfare Trust before 30 May to apply for a horse from this years muster.

The KWHT website is www.kaimanawa.homestead.com and for more information about adopting a Kaimanawa, check the link here.

Read Bob's column, THE DECIMATION OF THE KAIMANAWA.

Prime Minister disturbed by intensive pig farm practices

Prime Minister John Key says he found television footage of intensive pig farming "very, very disturbing". TVNZ's Sunday programme aired footage by animal welfare organisation Open Rescue, who were accompanied by comedian Mike King during a break-in at a North Island intensive pig farm. King, a long-standing front man for a campaign advertising pork, said he was deeply ashamed of his role in promoting that type of farming. The pigs were unable to move and obviously in distress, chewing at the cage bars and frothing, he said. At his post cabinet press conference today, Mr Key told reporters he found the programme "very, very disturbing". There was a need for change if that was indicative of a large number of piggeries around New Zealand, he said [more...]

Pork industry plunges into panic

Watch Mark Sainsbury's Close Up interview with comedian Mike King, SAFE's Hans Kriek, and NZ Pork Board Chairperson Chris Trengrove [more...]

SAFE's 'For the love of pigs' campaign

"For the last seven years the New Zealand pork industry had commissioned Mike King, one of the country's top celebrity icons, to encourage kiwis to eat more pork. He was damn good at his job too. Pork sales increased. Everyone was happy, or so he thought. Uncovering the truth Late in 2008 SAFE sent Mike King information about factory farming of pigs in New Zealand. In utter shock and disbelief, he began researching for himself how pigs were reared to produce pork, bacon and ham. He searched internet sites, spoke with friends and began asking questions of his employer, the New Zealand Pork Board..." [more ...]

Join the growing list of celebrities and make your voice heard !

Vet/Filmmaker uses Twitter to search for “3-legged dog” to star in movie

May 12th, 2009: Former SPCA Veterinary Surgeon and now filmmaker Geoff Talbot is throwing the casting net out as far as he possibly can, by using Twitter to search the animal kingdom for 'Scrap' the three-legged canine star in his next movie.

Based between LA and London the search has captivated the imagination of online Tweeters in America and Mr Talbot has been overwhelmed by the tweeting (woofing) flying back and forth around the globe. In just over a week over forty photographs of wannabe three-legged movie stars have poured in. Talbot is now laying down the challenge by asking New Zealand dogs to apply. Talbot has been quoted as saying… “Surely New Zealand tripods aren’t camera shy? Surely they have just as much acting talent than their American counterparts?” On his blog geofftalbot.wordpress.com, Geoff Talbot says, "By using twitter you can join us in our search for our own three legged canine Cinderella. Let’s find a dog that has overcome incredible odds and let’s make it a movie star."

This may well prove that in this world you can find almost anything on the twitter … even a three legged canine movie star !

[We're hoping that posting this story about Geoff's search for a three-legged dog will help publicise his upcoming movie. Geoff worked at the Auckland SPCA for around five years and saved many animal lives...]

Egg Producers Federation 'misleading claims'

The Royal New Zealand SPCA has dismissed as misleading and disingenuous, claims from the Egg Producers Federation of New Zealand that crowding layer hens together in battery cages has been vindicated by a MAF survey. The survey of 60 farms, released yesterday by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, found little difference in stress levels between hens kept in cages and those kept in free range or barn environments [see summary here].

However, as the SPCA's National Chief Executive, Robyn Kippenberger, points out, the study did not address the crucial issue of caged hen's inability to fulfil many of their instinctive behaviours. "Battery cages do not, for example, allow hens to exercise, flap their wings, preen, dust-bathe or build nests, all of which are natural and habitual activities for their species. Yet the ability to perform such natural behaviours is one of the five freedoms that form the basis of the 1999 Animal Welfare Act [more...]

Can You Help This Quiet Old Fella?

'Buddy', is a beautiful 23yr old thoroughbred, gelding who has had a rough time of late. He came to us malnourished and also needing some medical treatment. He is doing very well, and the vet has given him the all clear to go to a new home. Could this be YOU?! He is a quiet chap, who loves to hang out under our huge shelter and nibble at the hay and also has a bit of a motherly side. He has taken under his wing a young colt, who didn't quite know how things worked and showed him the ropes.

He'll need to go to a permanent retirment home with plenty of grazing, shelter and have an owner knowledgeable about horses who can provide excellent care. Recently we have had many horses come in and have been very successful in rehoming many of them, however we still have a few left, including 'Buddy', if you think you could give any of them a home please go to our livestock adoption page.

Unfortunately during this period our old harrow gave up the ghost and so we are looking for a used or new one to help us keep care of the paddocks these horses occupy. If you have one you could donate or would like to make a donation towards it, please contact fiona.mcdonald@spca.org.nz

SPCA and animal abuse figures at odds

Crime statistics show Auckland’s animal abuse is dropping, but frontline staff say that’s not the case.

Police figures show animal abuse in the Auckland policing district, which covers central, eastern and western Auckland, dropped by 42.9 percent last year with only eight cases recorded. Auckland SPCA general manager David Lloyd-Barker says the shelter has noticed just the opposite."We are finding increases in cases of wilful cruelty rather than acts of omission like failing to provide vet treatment. We are dealing with more cases of people deliberately hurting animals." He says many cases are reported to the SPCA rather than the police which could account for the difference.

"When police deal with it, the cases come to us and we do the prosecutions. We’ve got three cases running at the moment with people strangling dogs, cooking dogs alive, throwing kittens against walls." The offences happen all across the Auckland district, he says. The SPCA prosecuted 45 people for animal abuse last year and Mr Lloyd-Barker says numbers have risen quickly [more...]

Eminent Prosecutors Assemble To Combat Animal Cruelty

Anita and friend at the Auckland SPCA ... Thursday 9 April 2009

A formidable force of the most senior members of Auckland’s legal profession are collectively offering their services, without charge, to the Auckland SPCA (The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) in an unprecedented show of strength to bring animal offenders to justice.

The establishment of “The Pro-Bono Panel of Prosecutors for the SPCA Auckland” is the initiative of Anita Killeen who has recently been appointed to the Board of Directors of the Auckland SPCA.

Under the Animal Welfare Act, (1999), SPCA warranted inspectors are able to bring serious animal offenders before the Court, usually preparing their own cases, and often needing to call on costly legal assistance when cases go into defended hearings. The Pro-Bono Panel of Prosecutors for the SPCA Auckland has 21 members, consisting of the most senior members of New Zealand’s legal profession including 13 Queen’s Counsel, and senior Barristers and Partners of the leading law firms in New Zealand [more...]

Legal top dogs to act pro bono

THEY'VE GOT CRUELTY LICKED: Stuart Grieve, QC, and SPCA dog Dancer. Mr Grieve and others will give their services free in cruelty cases. A team of top lawyers have offered their services for free to help the SPCA take animal abuse cases to court.

The scheme will see more than 20 Auckland QCs, senior barristers and partners of law firms become members of a "pro bono panel of prosecutors" that will take difficult cruelty cases.

SPCA inspectors are legally able to bring serious animal offenders before a court. However, the society has to foot the bill for the legal action.

From today, the team will do the work, saving the SPCA about $40,000 a year.

Stuart Grieve, QC, who recently represented broadcaster Tony Veitch, said the initiative was a good cause and could provide some interesting work. "I wouldn't say I was an obsessional animal lover, but I do love dogs." [more...]

PHOTO: JOHN SELKIRK/The Dominion Post

Happy pigs

The idea to grow a few free-range pigs and then sell them to a butcher, restaurant or direct to the public seemed a simple one at first. But like the selling of any food product, especially meat, it's not. The demand for free-range pork products is slowly increasing in Taranaki following on the heels of a trend sweeping the rest of New Zealand and Europe. Gregor Fyfe from Freedom Farms, a free-range pork provider, says that nationwide the demand is growing enormously [more...]

Live sheep exports to resume

The Government intends ending the six-year moratorium on live sheep exports but says it will have to be assured the animals are properly treated on the trip to Saudi Arabia and when they get there. Agriculture Minister David Carter has confirmed shipments would resume under those conditions, distressing the Green Party and animal rights activists [Read more on stuff.co.nz]

Auckland SPCA CEO, Bob Kerridge, says, "Record your disgust now at the resumption of our live sheep shipments to Saudi Arabia for the purpose of ritual slaughter. The Minister of Agriculture has recently made an arbitrary decision to lift the six year old moratorium on this vile trade in animals, and now is the time for you to record your disgust directly. Write with your views to : The Minister of Agriculture, David Carter, c/o Parliament Buildings, Wellington. (No stamp required)."

[The website stuff.co.nz is also running a poll on their home page to obtain public opinion on whether live exports should resume.]

For more information about this revolting practise, follow this link to the Animals Australia website www.liveexport-indefensible.com to see what happens to the animals once they reach the Middle East, not forgetting the horrendous conditions endured during their transport there.

Canadian seal pup slaughter underway again

The Canadian seal hunt is underway, and the ProtectSeals team is on the ice to document the kill. This is the largest slaughter of marine mammals on Earth.

It took less than three days for sealers to slaughter 19,200 seal pups. The ProtectSeals team was there to document as they killed virtually every seal in sight -- just to produce fur coats that no one needs.

The world need to realise that the carnage is worse than ever -- and that despite the Canadian government's promises, the hunt is as cruel and merciless as ever.

You can help by going to the Humane Society International website here and join the campaign of pledging to boycott Canadian seafood products and asking everyone you know to do the same.