A beloved pet lamb was stolen and later dumped with a smashed head and set on fire outside its Dunedin home early yesterday, police say.

Attacks on guide dogs by out-of-control canines have increased this year, leaving owners and animals injured and distressed.

An investigation has been launched into the "mercy killing" of about 20 cats and kittens at the Wairarapa SPCA centre in Masterton.

SPCA head and staunch animal welfare advocate Bob Kerridge admits that some animal testing will be required as part of a new regime which is designed to prove the safety of party pills and synthetic cannabis.

Norm Hewitt and the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals have started a conversation with school students around New Zealand.

Animals are blessed at the annual SPCA Auckland Blessing of the Animals, held at St Matthew-In-The-City, Auckland

Two horses have died after being hit by a car in south Auckland this morning.

South Dunedin cat owners are being warned to keep their pets indoors as police investigate an alleged feline serial killer stalking the suburb.

A couple are planning to move after someone kicked their much-loved pet cat so hard his abdominal wall split open.

A puppy rescued by a Whangarei SPCA worker is now saving lives by sniffing out explosives in some of the world's war-torn danger spots.

Auckland SPCA is calling for people to adopt their own Easter bunny this weekend, but only if they are prepared to look after it.

North Shore residents say somebody is poisoning hungry sparrows and leaving them to die on roads and footpaths.

WARNING: Graphic content. SPCA staff believe a cat found drowned in Auckland's Waitemata Harbour on Sunday was lured into a lobster trap and left in the water to die.

A potential cat fight has quietened down in Paihia after a conservation group accused the SPCA of supporting a cat colony in the Village Green.

In Australia, companion animal controls are much stronger than ours, writes Brian Rudman. It seems a good first step in dissuading cat - and dog - ownership.

The SPCA has rejected claims it releases cats into the wild after Gareth Morgan offered $5 for every unwanted cat it euthanised.

Environmentalist Gareth Morgan has offered to donate $5 to the SPCA for every homeless cat they put down.

More than 80 per cent of those who live with cats consider them to be a member of the family, writes Bob Kerridge.