KEY POINTS:
Two kittens are lucky to be alive after four young children tortured them for an hour and a half in Lower Hutt.
Wellington SPCA was called by a neighbour who saw three girls and a boy throw the six-week-old kittens repeatedly into a swimming pool.
Animal welfare inspector Ben Lakomy arrived at the Naenae property to witness the most horrific thing he had seen in two years on the job.
One kitten was on the ground and the children, who were about 5 years old, were bouncing the other vigorously on a trampoline.
Before he could intervene, the children had thrown the kitten off the trampoline and on to the ground.
"These kittens were in a horrific state," Mr Lakomy said.
"They had lost control of their bodily functions and were howling with distress; they were dying."
He took the kittens to the closest veterinary surgery, where they were treated for shock.
Mr Lakomy said the behaviour of such children was worrying.
"The link between violence towards animals leading to violence towards people later in life has been firmly established."
SPCA spokeswoman Lisa Snow said the kittens had made a good recovery and were now at the SPCA in Newtown.
One of the kittens also had a back injury, which the SPCA was still investigating.
The children were too young to be charged, but the incident would be referred to Child, Youth and Family for investigation, she said.
The children had been unsupervised when the torture took place.
Two of the children had taken the kittens to a neighbour's home, where the other children lived, Ms Snow said.
Their mother did not know the kittens had been taken and neither family knew what was happening to them.
She said both families would be educated about the proper way to treat animals, including the importance of supervising children around animals.
- NZPA
