KEY POINTS:
A Gore herd manager has been fined $4000 for knocking down two dairy cows with a quad bike, then running over them.
Peter Peevers also repeatedly punched another young cow in the udder, after it defecated on him, said the animal welfare investigations manager for the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Charles Cadwallader.
The animal cruelty involved was "inexcusable", said Mr Cadwallader, who welcomed the decision yesterday in the Balclutha District Court to fine Peevers $4000, with costs of $380.
Peevers pleaded guilty to two charges under the Animal Welfare Act 1999, which related to two incidents lasting over an hour on a Gore dairy farm in August 2006.
Mr Cadwallader said that MAF would have welcomed a higher fine for the "shocking, unprovoked attack on two defenceless animals" but noted Peevers had lost his job because of the behaviour.
Peevers was trying to move two unco-operative heifers off a calving pad when he became angry and knocked both animals down with a 350cc quad bike.
Having pushed over the first animal, he kicked her repeatedly, and when the heifer would not get up, drove the quad bike over the animal several times.
The herd manager then left the bike parked on the heifer, put a chain around the heifer's throat and attempted to pull it with a tractor.
The heifer's head slipped out of the chain and she ran off.
Peevers then used the quad bike to knock the second heifer to the ground, before she ran under an electric fence, where she got stuck. Peevers pushed her through the fence, leaving her with a bleeding nose.
In a separate incident, another heifer defecated on Peevers and he was seen repeatedly punching her in the udder.
When interviewed by MAF's animal welfare investigation team Peevers said he had lost the plot and admitted the offences.
- NZPA
