SPCA Says Cat Killing Demonstrates Abuse Of Animals And Humans!

The Royal New Zealand SPCA has expressed outrage at the killing of a cat belonging to a police officer responsible for a high profile animal abuse prosecution.

The Society’s National Chief Executive, Robyn McDonald, describes the killing as both the cruel and pre-meditated slaughter of an innocent animal and as a cowardly attempt at psychological abuse of the animal’s owners.

Earlier this week, Senior Sergeant Blair Donaldson discovered the remains of his family’s Persian cat, Patsy, cut in half outside the Huntly police station.

Mr Donaldson was the officer who prosecuted Sahn Papa (18) and Wirimu Karena (17), found guilty by the Huntly District Court of pouring solvent over three cats in council cages and then setting them on fire. On Wednesday this week, Papa and Karena were sentenced to nine months each in prison for aggravated cruelty to animals.

“All the signs are that the killing of the Donaldsons’ cat was related to the Karena and Papa case. We share the Donaldon family’s shock and outrage at the fate of their beloved cat, “ says Robyn McDonald,

“This latest example of gross and wanton cruelty should heighten our awareness of the link between abuse of people and abuse of animals.

“There is a considerable volume of evidence that people who are cruel to animals can also be violent and abusive to their fellow humans. But, as this incident shows, cruelty to animals can itself be a way of abusing people and trying to intimidate them,” she says.

Robyn McDonald adds that the SPCA welcomes the prison sentences imposed on Papa and Karena, as a further sign that courts are beginning to take animal abuse seriously.

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