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The SPCA has launched an investigation into allegations of cruelty against three men who killed a deer by jumping on its back and drowning it in a lake.
Glen Colledge, 29, Luke Taylor, 22, and Rex Gotz, 28, were fishing on Lake Okataina, near Rotorua on October 13 when they spotted a deer in a nearby bush.
The men made a loud sound which spooked the animal into leaping into the water, Mr Colledge said they then chased the deer in their boat, jumped on to its back, put a rope around its neck and drowned it.
"We just held it under for ages until we saw it wasn't going to come up," he said.
He admitted the deer was probably terrified.
SPCA chief executive Robyn Kippenberger said today the organisation was now investigating the incident.
"We've had advice that there is a prima facie case to answer, but it just depends on whether we can get supporting evidence for that," Ms Kippenberger said.
"We're not hanging around with it, we're not letting it go cold and we're certainly going to start taking evidence in the next week or so."
She said the fact that the deer was a wild animal did not make any difference to the case.
"It's about the fact that they captured it and then it suffered," she said.
Rotorua SPCA general manager Nicola Martin said the organisation had received dozens of irate calls from people, including seasoned hunters, who were "disgusted" at the action.
- NZPA
