The calf was shot on a Waimate farm. PHOTO/supplied
GRAPHIC WARNING
A calf has been brutally shot at least five times and left to die a slow painful death in the South Island.
Waimate farmer Dan Studholme got a call that a cow had been shot on his land on Sunday night.
He found the 4-month-old heifer riddled with gunshot wounds from a 22 magnum rifle. Studholme called a vet and the police who both attended the farm in the small town 50km north of Oamaru.
"The vet found at least five gunshot wounds," Studholme told the Herald.
"Two from behind to the back leg, one through the stomach and two to the top of the jaw bone and the head. It also had a broken femur at the hip.
"It was badly broken. We suspect it was probably rammed by a vehicle."
The calf was owned by another farmer who was grazing his stock on Studholme's land.
One of the worst parts was that it looked like the animal had died a slow and painful death, Studholme said. The broken leg was swollen which indicated there was time between the injury and the animal's death. There were also marks on the ground where the calf had struggled. The vet said the animal had probably died late Saturday night.
Live bullets and empty casings were strewn on the roadside. The calf's ear tag had been cut out and discarded in the long grass.
Studholme said he dreaded calling the calf's owner and telling him his stock had been shot.
"It's never nice, it's almost easier when it's your own stock, you can just shrug it off.
"You feel pretty bad. It's just that horrible feeling."
Studholme estimated the young heifer was worth around $700.
"It's just pretty callous.
"Accidents do happen but this doesn't appear to be that."
In another incident, two more people were charged over alleged "brutal" treatment of bobby calves on Waikato farms .
A Down Cow employee has been charged in relation to the dragging of calves, while a farmer has been charged after allegedly using a hip clamp on a cow which had just calved.
The Down Cow employee has been charged under the Animal Welfare Act, the Ministry of Primary Industries confirmed to the Herald tonight.
He is due to appear before the Huntly District Court in February.
In a separate case, MPI also charged a farmer over allegations of transporting a cow while it was suspended from a hip clamp.
The farmer is scheduled to appear before the Morrinsville District Court in February.
Meanwhile, Down Cow - a Waikato pet food processing plant - and its company director Alan Cleaver are defending their charges. Their case remains before the court.
The charges follow a prosecution earlier this year in which Noel Erickson, an employee of Down Cow, was jailed for two years for the abuse of bobby calves.
Slaughterman Erickson admitted his role in the abuse which involved him kicking and hitting calves and dragging one under a gate.
Erickson was initially sentenced to 10 months' home detention but the sentence was overturned for a jail sentence in November after MPI won an appeal.
He will now serve two years in prison.
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