‘Absolutely sickening’: Starving dog flea-ridden and close to death

WARNING: Distressing content.

Two Aucklanders have been banned from owning pets and sentenced to community service after the SPCA found their dog starving, flea-ridden, injured and close to death – a case the organisation calls the most severe neglect seen in years.

An SPCA inspector found Snow, a white mixed-breed dog, tied to a pole with a heavy, twisted chain restricting her movement to barely a cubic metre in a Papakura backyard in June 2020.

The dog couldn’t stand on her left front foot, “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 the hip bone. Both were severely infected.”

The SPCA took Snow into its care and gave her an emergency vet assessment.

Snow’s injuries likely came from lying on a hard surface for a long time, made worse by her lack of body fat.

She also suffered from a parasite infection and anaemia, not having enough healthy red blood cells, because of her severe flea infestation and emaciation, blood tests showed.

The vet said Snow was starving and had suffered “unreasonable and unnecessary long-term severe pain and distress” and said her condition would have developed over up to six months.

The vet said Snow was so emaciated when the SPCA found her that she wouldn’t have survived beyond a few more weeks.

Snow’s owners, a man and a woman, were charged with reckless ill-treatment of an animal.

The woman was today sentenced in the Manukau District Court to 150 hours of community service and disqualified from owning a companion animal for 10 years.

The man was sentenced to 140 hours of community service and was disqualified from owning a pet for five years.

The District Court ordered them to pay $350 towards legal costs.

When the pair were first confronted by the SPCA inspector, they claimed they had been out of town for four weeks and had asked a family member to look after the house – but didn’t specifically ask if they could look after Snow, the SPCA said.

The pair then said they forgot about Snow while they were away.

When they returned, the woman said she noticed Snow “looked a bit sick and that her skin was pink instead of white”, the SPCA said.

The man said he couldn’t take Snow to the vet because he had no money and couldn’t drive.

SPCA chief executive Todd Westwood said it was one of the most severe cases of neglect against a dog the charity had seen in recent years.

“There is no excuse for Snow’s neglect and for failing to seek veterinary care, when she so clearly needed it,” Westwood said.

“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,” he said.

“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.”

Westwood said Snow would have suffered extreme psychological stress from her treatment.

“SPCA’s been advocating for a long time for a change in legislation to put an end to the life-chaining of dogs, which has both physical and mental impacts on these helpless animals.

“Snow’s story shows just how pressing this issue is, and following our ‘Break the Chain’ campaign, we really hope to see some progress from the Government soon, so we can step in to help other chained dogs before they reach this state of neglect.”

Snow was eventually nursed back to health by the SPCA and has been adopted by a loving and caring family.