Owner ignored vet after puppy injured

SPCA Inspector Jason Blair obtained a search warrant to find the injured dog.

A Tauranga man refused to get help for his puppy after it suffered severe injuries when it was dragged along the road from a ute.

Jarrod Wharekawa, 37, admitted to two charges: one of failing to protect his puppy from significant injury by tethering it on the back of his utility vehicle in such a manner that did not prevent it from falling or jumping off, and a second charge of keeping the puppy alive when it was it was suffering unreasonable or unnecessary pain or distress.

Wharekawa was sentenced to 100 hours' community work for each charge to run concurrently and ordered to pay reparations of $637.90.

Tauranga District Court was told that in September last year Wharekawa had tied his 5-month-old Staffordshire terrier crossbred puppy "Temtem" to the back of his ute and drove off.

Somewhere along the road, the dog jumped or fell off and was dragged along the road for some distance.

Wharekawa took the puppy to a vet clinic where the veterinarian observed that the flesh on its right hind leg had been ripped open to expose the bone, which had been snapped in two.

Wharekawa refused to accept the veterinarian's advice that euthanasia was the best option to end the puppy's suffering. So the puppy was released under strict instructions for it to be returned for further assessment the next morning. Following Wharekawa's failure to return with the puppy, the clinic informed Tauranga SPCA.

SPCA Inspector Jason Blair went to Wharekawa's property later that day but was verbally abused by Wharekawa's father and informed the puppy was dead. Mr Blair applied for a search warrant and returned the next day to find the puppy still alive. Mr Blair seized the puppy and took it to the vet clinic to be euthanised. By then the puppy's wounds were infected.

Mr Blair said the case was an example of an otherwise compassionate and responsible dog owner placing his puppy at risk by transporting it unsecured on the back of a vehicle and failing in his obligation to end the puppy's suffering when severe injury occurred.

Meanwhile, a 74-year-old Tauranga woman, who failed to seek treatment for a cat which developed cancer of the nose and mouth, has been convicted of reckless ill-treatment.

Tangiora Leef, who was sentenced to 60 hours' community work when she appeared in Tauranga District Court earlier this week, has also been ordered to pay $70.60 reparation to Tauranga SPCA for veterinary costs.

Leef's offending came to light when SPCA Inspector Nathalie Visser went to Leef's Brookfield home on June 18 last year responding to a report of a cat with severe facial injuries.