SPCA boss is in doghouse

Dianne Gray says the SPCA has been unfairly targeted. Photo / Bay of Plenty Times

When neighbours complained of the noise and smell emanating from the local SPCA, the council was bound to investigate.

What it found would cause astonishment: The SPCA - the association that protects animals from cruelty - had 37 dogs locked in a facility that was permitted to keep only 20.

Now, the SPCA's head office is investigating its former Te Awamutu manager - who only a year earlier was honoured for a lifetime of work for the good of animals. The SPCA is expected to complete its report this week and the former manager, Dianne Gray, says she has been told she could face charges.

But, speaking out for the first time, she questioned the SPCA's decision to remove her from the role of local manager.

She says the reason she had been forced to keep so many animals was because of a recent SPCA policy to not euthanise healthy animals - meaning she had more dogs than she could find homes for.

Gray was stood down from her role in June after the Waipa District Council complained to the SPCA's national office about odour, noise and the number of dogs housed at the Bruce Berquist Drive facility.

Gray says the SPCA was unfairly targeted, and among the 37 dogs were some of her own pets, which lived off-premises.

The inspectors would often turn up first thing in the morning, before there was a chance to do the morning's cleaning, she says.

"If you come at 9am and nothing's done of course you're going to find faeces, just the same as you'd find in any kennel in New Zealand. I've been threatened with prosecution under the Animal Welfare Act, but they haven't said what for."

Gray alleges that SPCAs the length of New Zealand are getting overcrowded since the national organisation introduced a campaign, Saving Lives, intended to reduce the numbers of healthy animals that are put down.

Gray says the SPCA had previously held a permit for 34 dogs but the national office instructed Waipa District Council to reduce the permit to 20.

"That's what they did so it's very difficult to always keep to 20 dogs," says Gray.

SPCA national president Bob Kerridge denies this: "In terms of the permit that's granted by the Waipa District Council they have a permit for 20 dogs, end of story."

He would not comment on details of the Te Awamutu investigation until it was completed. He expects that to be this week.

Once the national body of the SPCA had taken over management, 10 dogs from the Te Awamutu SPCA were signed over to the Waipa District Council.

Nine were killed after being assessed by council staff. The dogs killed were mostly either pitbulls or pitbull crosses.