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Joan Dempster is sick of people dumping their cats near her home in Hikurangi. As long as the SPCA exists, there is no excuse for abandoning an animal anywhere.

Dumping a big issue for SPCA

reprinted with permisssion from Whangarei Leader
by Denise Piper

Whangarei SPCA is struggling to cope with hundreds of cats and dogs being deserted and neglected during the holidays.

Manager Francine Shields says in the three days before Christmas, the SPCA took in 100 animals. There has also been a high number of complaints about animal welfare and neglect.

One of the worst cases was a cat which appeared to have boiling water poured on it. The burns got infected and its' skin began to rot. The cat had to be put down, says Miss Shields.
“If we could find the person responsible for it, we would prosecute."
Many animals have also been neglected as people go on holiday without arrangements for their pets. Miss Shields says even when people are told their animal would be put down because of a lack of capacity at the SPCA, many are unmoved.
“It’s disappointing that there’s a percentage of people who think of animals as disposable.”

Joan Dempster, a resident at Otonga Rd in rural Hikurangi, says she is sick and tired of animals being dumped on her road. The road has numerous wild and abandoned cats and last week four chickens – bantams – were dumped just outside her property.
With no one for miles having chickens and the bantams being so quiet, they were obviously pets which had been dumped, she says.
“We don’t want to be the dumping ground for everybody’s animals. “The SPCA’s the drop-off place, not our road.”
Mrs Dempster says it is a shame people abandon their cats.
“It’s sad. We really pamper ours and our little dog.”

Miss Shields urges people who are desperate to drop their animals off at the SPCA, rather than dumping them.
She says people considering getting an animal should realise they will have them for a long time. She also urges pet owners to get their animals de-sexed to stop unwanted litters.