A dog's owners have been sentenced after she was left chained to a metal pole for months and starved to the point of near-death.
Snow the dog suffered "unreasonable and unnecessary long-term severe pain and distress", a vet said.
The case began when an SPCA inspector was called to an address in Auckland's Papakura in June 2020.
Snow, a white mixed-breed dog, was "lying on the floor of a children's outdoor playhouse with a heavy, twisted chain attached to her collar, restricting her movements to barely a metre", the charity said in a statement.
It was winter. She was so emaciated, a vet estimated she wouldn't have survived beyond a few more weeks.
"Snow was unable to bear weight on her left front leg and was so weak that she wobbled as she walked," the SPCA said.
"The grass around her was worn down to bare earth, her living conditions were wet, cold and dirty and she was so thin that her bones were protruding from her body.
"Snow was riddled with fleas and had two foul smelling, gaping wounds on the back of both thighs.
"The wounds extended deep into the muscle layers, and one of them penetrated to the hip bone. Both were severely infected."
Snow was immediately surrendered to the SPCA's care. An emergency assessment found her wounds were caused by lying on a hard surface for a long period of time, made worse by her lack of body fat. Blood tests revealed Snow had anaemia and a parasite infection.
The vet estimated her condition had occurred progressively over a period of three to six months.
"The condition that Snow was found in was not only shocking, but it was absolutely sickening and appalling to see how she'd been treated," said SPCA chief executive Todd Westwood.
He said it was one of the most severe cases of neglect against a dog the charity had seen in years.
"You can see the defeat in Snow's eyes in the photo our inspector took of her the day she was found, and it's gut-wrenching to know she was let down so poorly by those who were meant to care for her."
'Focused on other things'
The defendants claimed they'd been out of town for four weeks and asked a family member to mind the house – but they didn't specifically ask if the family member could look after Snow, the pair admitted.
"There was no contact while they were away, and the defendants said they got caught up in other things and forgot about her," the SPCA said. When they returned, the female defendant said she noticed Snow "looked a bit sick".
"The male defendant told the inspector that he'd left two dog rolls in the fridge, but no money for the family member to buy more and assumed he'd feed Snow scraps," the SPCA said.
The man said he couldn't take Snow to the vet because he couldn't drive and had no money to pay anyway.
The woman said Snow looked worse over the next few weeks – but she was "focused on other things".
"She said her co-defendant had told her that Snow 'had no bum cheeks' and that it looked 'like she's eaten them... because she's hungry'," the SPCA said. The woman admitted Snow looked "horrific".
"She said he'd asked her to take Snow to the vet about three times, but she hadn't."
Westwood said there was no excuse for the neglect, adding Snow would've suffered psychological damage as well as physical.
He called for an end to the life-chaining of dogs.
The outcome
Snow was nursed back to health in SPCA care, the charity said. She's now been adopted by a family "where she is receiving the love and care she's always deserved".
The man and woman were both charged with reckless ill-treatment of an animal.
The woman was sentenced to 150 hours community work and banned from owning companion animals for 10 years, while the man was sentenced to 140 hours community work and banned from owning companion animals for five years.
The pair also had to pay $350 towards legal costs.
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