Southland man's 88000 signature petition aims to deter animal abuse

Wednesday, 8 May 2019

Southland man Karl Thomas, with siberian huskies Annie and Cynna, has organised a 88000 signature petition calling for more consistent sentencings of animal abusers.

A Southland man has organised a petition with more than 88,000 signatures which is aimed at trying to deter animal abuse in New Zealand.

Karl Thomas, who owns seven siberian huskies and does other work with dogs, said he originally started the online petition in mid 2017 to campaign for a realistic sentence in a case where a puppy was bashed with a hammer.

Sentencing of the offender took place earlier than expected and attempts to get the petition - which then had 40,000 signatures - before the judge were unsuccessful, he said.

Thomas decided to continue petitioning for change as he believed some sentences handed down were too light, so he altered the purpose of the campaign to instead call for more consistent sentencing of convicted animal abusers.

He requested feedback and agreement from those who had already signed the petition and was supported, he said.

Standardised guidelines were needed in animal abuse case sentencings, he said.

Ministry of Justice spokesman Brendan Gage said the Court of Appeal sometimes issued guideline judgments relating to sentencing for particular types of offending, but no such judgment had been issued for animal abuse offences.

Sentencing in individual cases was guided by the maximum penalty for the offence, the seriousness of the offending, an assessment of the aggravating and mitigating factors relating to the offender and consistency with sentences imposed in similar cases.

Thomas cited numerous sentences which he believed were inconsistent.

In 2018, an offender was sentenced to four months home detention for deliberately stamping on and killing a seven week old puppy; while in 2017 an offender was sentenced to two years and five months jail for repeatedly bashing a five month old puppy with a hammer. Even the latter sentence was too lenient, Thomas believed.

Dog starvation cases between 2017 and 2019 had also received variable sentences, ranging from disqualification of owning a dog and a fine to community work to community detention to prison, he said.

'I am totally disgusted by the behaviour of some New Zealanders towards animal welfare.'

He did not believe animal abuse was taken seriously enough in New Zealand and said studies showed it was linked to offenders abusing people.

Former Southland SPCA chairwoman Rachel Hucklebridge said she believed the pubic, in general, wanted tougher sentences for animal abusers.

Thomas is presenting the petition to Labour List MP Dr Liz Craig in Invercargill on Monday morning.

A staffer at Craig's office said Craig would present the petition to the clerk of the house of representatives in Parliament and it would be checked and presented to the appropriate select committee.

Thomas did not expect any legislative changes to come from the petition but wanted judges to get the mandate that more consistent sentencing was required.