Hunters’ actions technically legal
Animal cruelty charges against two Marlborough pig hunters have been ‘‘reluctantly’’ dismissed by a judge, because causing ‘‘unnecessary pain or distress’’ to an animal while hunting had not yet been made illegal.
Tyson Wairau Robson Thwaites and Fletcher Paul Johnson were charged with animal cruelty after a video of them hunting was posted on Facebook in August 2014. The video showed three dogs biting a small wild pig on its face and body for about two minutes before it was killed.
The men defended the charges, brought by the SPCA, and Judge Barbara Morris ruled their actions were technically legal, because it happened before changes were made to animal cruelty laws in May 2015.
If it had happened a year later, the men would have been found guilty – and other pig hunters should take note, Judge Morris said in her decision released on Tuesday.
SPCA chief executive Andrea Midgen said the organisation was not satisfied with the outcome.
‘‘We’re looking at what we can do about it,’’ she said.
Thwaites, 23, and Johnson, 24, were out hunting in Marlborough when they decided to train their dogs in holding, they told the court at their trial in December.
The technique used dogs to detain a pig by biting its ears until a hunter arrived and killed it, sparing the more valuable meat.
Under the Animal Cruelty Act, wilfully ill-treating an animal was illegal except when hunting, until the change in 2015 removed the hunting exclusion.
Because the video was shot in 2014, Judge Morris ‘‘reluctantly’’ dismissed the charges because causing an animal unnecessary pain or distress while hunting was not illegal yet.
‘‘Pig hunting is not ideal for the faint hearted nor people of the animal rights movement,’’ she said.
The case was a warning to hunters that causing unnecessary distress to an animal was now considered animal cruelty, even if it was while hunting, she said.
‘‘If hunters wish to train their dogs on live pigs they will have to do so with great care so as not to commit a criminal offence.
‘‘Mr Thwaites and Mr Johnson can no longer, in my view, train dogs in this fashion because they are at grave risk of a judge finding that the pig suffered unreasonable pain and distress.’’
Training dogs to hold a pig could land hunters up to 12 months in jail or $50,000 in fines if it caused the pig unnecessary distress.
Defence lawyer Rob Harrison said pig hunters used the hunt to feed their families, and training dogs was more difficult when a hunter had to kill a pig immediately. But the real lesson from the case was not to post videos online, he said: ‘‘Just leave the video cameras at home.’’