No evidence for pound claims: MPI

A Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) investigation has found ‘‘no or insufficient evidence’’ of animal welfare breaches at Napier City Council’s pound.

The ministry began investigating the pound last year after allegations of animal mistreatment.

The Watchdog! group, which called for an independent review of the council’s dog control practices, claimed concerns raised by staff had gone unaddressed.

In a report on its findings, the ministry said it investigated 11 ‘‘incidents’’ at the pound and concluded ‘‘there was either no or insufficient evidence of breaches’’ of the Animal Welfare Act. ‘‘Hearsay in the form of rumour and supposition about these incidents has often been the predominant evidence of allegations amongst the large amount of material provided to this investigation.’’

It said there had been improvements made in the management and day-to-day running of the

"As expected, we passed the inspection with flying colours." Napier Mayor Bill Dalton on the Ministry for Primary Industries investigation

council’s animal control unit and pound, both before and after the start of its investigation.

Napier Mayor Bill Dalton said the report showed recommendations after an earlier MPI audit were ‘‘now well bedded in, and that there has been no ill treatment of animals in our care’’.

But Watchdog! spokeswoman Jessica Maxwell said Napier City Council had ‘‘little to be crowing about’’, given that it had ‘‘repeatedly assured the public that nothing was amiss at the pound’’ ahead of an earlier MPI audit.

The group was disappointed that the ministry had taken a ‘‘cautious’’ approach in its latest report but it was pleased a spotlight had been put on the pound.

‘‘If we hadn’t involved MPI, the non-compliances [highlighted in the earlier audit] would never have come to light,’’ Maxwell said.

The earlier audit report found there were four major non-compliances and two minor non-compliances at the animal control facility.

These included: a lack of a standard operating procedure; lack of internal auditable reports; lack of evidence of training; as well as poor ability to prevent contagious disease and control temperature.

Despite a number of non-compliances being identified, the report found that the pound was well run and very clean.

The council said the pound was revisited in March and all recommendations made by MPI had been implementedt.

‘‘As expected, we passed the inspection with flying colours and we had full confidence that we would be cleared of Watchdog’s absurd allegations as well,’’ Dalton said.