Sentence 'slap on wrist'

The courts need to hand out stiffer sentences to the minority of farm owners who continue to ignore welfare standards, says the SPCA.

The society yesterday condemned the sentence handed down to Hawkes Bay farm manager Phillip Peacock in the Napier District Court.

Peacock admitted 56 animal welfare offences relating to when he was farm manager in Te Pohue, 45km northwest of Napier, between September 2004 and January last year.

He was sentenced to 300 hours' community work, banned from being in charge of farm animals for five years and ordered to pay $750 in costs.

His employer, Te Pohue Ltd, was last month fined $10,500, after being found guilty on 49 charges. SPCA national chief executive Robyn Kippenberger described sentencing in the case as "little more than a slap on the wrist".

"We are very disappointed that a minority of farm owners continue to ignore welfare standards and that our courts are failing to send out a consistently strong message on this issue.

"The sentences in this case do not seem to reflect the clear culpability of both the farm manager and farm owners, the graphic evidence of wilful neglect presented to the court or the obvious importance of high animal welfare standards to our export trade."

She said that in the first of the two incidents for which the defendants were charged, 266 cows were left to rummage for food in a pine forest. Only 179 survived. In the second, 114 bull calves were left for days without water. Five died and two were put down.

- NZPA