Auckland's SPCA is gearing up to receive more than 1000 animals that will arrive over the busy Christmas/New Year season.

A mother dog howled all night after she fished her six dead puppies out of an estuary after they had been dumped in a shopping bag.

The pit bull puppy found in a Tauranga shopping area with his ears chopped off will head to a loving new home today.

Tauranga residents are concerned they are dealing with a serial animal abuser after a kitten was violently thrown against a door and killed this morning - the third horrific act of animal cruelty in the city in a month.

Animal protection inspectors are closing in on offenders responsible for cutting off the ears of an eight-week-old pitbull puppy.

An egg's an egg, right? Not quite, as they're not equal in weight or taste.

A man is defending accusations that he held a rabbit by its ears and thrust it at passers-by in Auckland's Queen Street.