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Dmitry Repeat / Unsplash
A man was fined for drowning eight cats. (file photo)
GRAPHIC CONTENT: A Dunedin man who caught and drowned eight feral cats during a night shift was fined $ 2,000.
Donald MacDonald appeared for sentencing in Dunedin District Court on Wednesday after admitting that killing an animal caused unreasonable suffering or unnecessary pain.
In addition to the $ 2,000 fine, he was also ordered to pay $ 610 repairs.
MacDonald, 62, worked at a recycling plant in Mosgiel and said he was under the impression that his employer wanted the animals disposed of, so he trapped each feral cat individually and then drowned them.
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His attorney Sarah Saunderson-Warner said MacDonald’s employer bought two traps and told MacDonald that he wanted the cats to “disappear for the weekend,” reported the Otago Daily Times.
The SPCA said in a statement that while animal drowning was illegal, it was still a fairly widespread problem in New Zealand.
The capture and elimination of pests was allowed in New Zealand, but the killing must not cause unnecessary or irrational pain or distress.
On the night of September 24 of last year, MacDonald took a trap with a cat inside and dipped it in a blue plastic container filled with water before leaving it for three to four minutes.
Then he repeated the method for the other cats.
MacDonald placed their bodies under a tree along a boundary toward the workplace, where they were discovered by a co-worker a day later.
Autopsies were performed on six of the cats, and a veterinarian concluded that there was irrefutable evidence of drowning; fluid in the trachea, respiratory tract, and lungs.
Three of the cats were pregnant.
SPCA Executive Director Andrea Midgen said drowning animals as a method of euthanasia was “cruel.”
“We urge people to think about what they are going to do with the animal once trapped.
SIMON O’CONNOR / STUFF / Stuff
SPCA has criticized the drowning of eight trapped cats as “cruel.”
” Drowning should be ruled out as the next step.
“We must do better, as the intense anguish it causes to animals in the final moments before death is quite horrible.”
MacDonald said he believed that drowning was a humane method of exterminating cats.
Midgen said the cats could have been members of someone’s family.
“We know that cats face risks when they roam, including the risk of being caught in a trap, and we encourage cat owners to take steps to keep their cats safe, which may include keeping their cat on their property. and assist microchip identification and registration. and with necklace “.
