Animals left to suffer in horrific cases of cruelty
Pet negligence on rise
HORRIFIC images of a chihuahua with an untreated infection so bad its right eye is exposed have been released by the RSPCA.
It is one of the most shocking cases of animal negligence that Far Northern inspectors attended last year as animal cruelty complaints across the Far North soar with 977 reported cases.
This figure, which equates to almost three complaints a day, has jumped from the 889 made to the RSPCA the year before.
Far North RSPCA regional inspector Ben Newman said 75 per cent of the time animal negligence came down to money with owners “happy to let their pet die naturally” rather than seek treatment.
“There are alternatives to letting the animal suffer until it dies or we get called out,” he said. “It’s just disappointing that it always comes down to finance and money. It’s not an excuse to just let the dog suffer without any treatment.”
Cairns southern suburbs received the highest number of animal cruelty complaints with a total of 250 and White Rock topped the list as the region’s cruellest suburb for 2018.
Last year Mareeba had the most complaints with 53, followed by Edmonton at 47 and Bentley Park at 40.
Mr Newman said the chihuahua found wandering Bentley Park in December last year had been a “horrendous” case.
“The dog’s just been left there to suffer for months on end to a point that we got called out and had to have the dog put to sleep on humane grounds,” Mr Newman said.
In another case, Mr Newman was able to rescue a kitten that had been trapped in a two- inch space between a retaining wall and a fence in Cairns city.
“Someone had heard a kitten in distress… I don’t know how it got down there,” he said.
“This little ginger kitten was jammed at the bottom of the fence, it was in a real bad way.”
Sadly, despite being rescued, the kitten died of a heart murmur a few weeks later.
With such a huge area to cover, the two Far North inspectors had to prioritise all jobs on a triage basis.
“There are quite a lot of bad cases,” he said. “We try to help the animal and if needed prosecute the person… hopefully they can learn a lesson from that but not always.”