The SPCA is condemning the actions of a Waikato man who kept his dog tied up for weeks with too small of a chain, causing horrific injuries.
Vincent Mark didn't seek treatment for his dog's festering wounds - instead he tied her up in a different part of his yard to prevent his children from seeing it.
He was sentenced in the Hamilton District Court on Tuesday to 160 hours of community service, disqualified from owning a dog for three years and ordered to pay fines close to $700.
Animal Control officers first found the dog, named Skye, in April on a visit to the Kahui Ave, Pukemoremore property.
A vet found the chain was embedded below the skin level around approximately 80 percent of the dog's neck. Surgery was required to remove part of a chain link, where muscle and skin had healed through it.
Removal revealed smelly, pus-filled wounds up to seven centimetres wide and four centimetres deep. Copious red granulation suggested the wounds had been there a long time.
"This is an abhorrent case of long-term neglect resulting in horrendous pain and suffering," says SPCA New Zealand acting CEO Andrea Midgen.
"The defendant in this case admitted to SPCA inspectors that he not only saw the wounds but could smell them as well, and yet he did nothing to relieve the dog's suffering. Any reasonable person would have cut the chain from the dog's neck and taken her to the vet.
"Instead, the defendant tied the dog up in a different part of his yard so his children wouldn't be upset by her terrible wounds. This kind of cruel neglect is simply beyond belief."
The dog is now doing well with a new family.
Newshub.
