Jail emaciated dog's owners, says SPCA

JOHN SELKIRK/Dominion Post

SKIN AND BONES: Auckland SPCA General Manager David Lloyd-Barker with Eve the emaciated dog. The SPCA is calling for the dog's owners to be jailed.

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The owners of a dog left to starve while they holidayed in Rotorua should be jailed, the SPCA says.
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"This is about as bad as it gets," SPCA general manager David Lloyd-Barker said.

"She was about a day away from being dead."

Rescued on Christmas Eve after a tip-off from neighbours, the mixed breed dog dubbed "Eve" weighed just 10-kilograms.

Mr Lloyd-Barker said Eve had been abandoned by her owners for at least a week but estimated she had not been feed for up to four weeks.

She was found lying among a pile of dried faeces, without food or water and was thought to have stayed alive by catching flies and through sheer willpower.

"I have seen a lot of bad things in my life...you never get over things like this," he said.

"The people who have done this to her will be taken to court and hopefully the justice system will see fit to imprison them, because that it what they deserve."

The owners were known to be "having a lovely time on holiday in Rotorua" and would be spoken to on their return, Mr Lloyd-Barker said.

Once Eve had put on some weight, she would be sent to an approved foster home and found a new, permanent home with people who loved her once the prosecution of her owners was complete, he said.

- © Fairfax NZ News