Woman likely to be charged for releasing kitten

The SPCA is likely to charge a woman who deliberately released a kitten into the wild in front of Hamilton staff because they refused to take it.

Under the Animal Welfare Act, the maximum penalty is six months in prison and/or a $25,000 fine.

The SPCA's Waikato manager, Chris Wood, said staff wanted to make a point that they were at capacity. They could not take any more cats and had limited funding to deal with an already-full branch. Two hundred cats were waiting for new homes.

Staff would trace the woman through her licence plate and and urge the Waikato SPCA to charge her.

Mrs Wood said the woman became frustrated when told by Hamilton staff yesterday that the branch was full. She then released the three or four-month-old kitten from a box and it ran off into industrial land surrounding the Frankton office. Staff would try to catch it today.