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Young people in the lower New Zealand South Island are among the worst offenders in cases of animal cruelty, the SPCA said.

The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals published its annual list of shame at the weekend, a roundup of the worst cases of abuse and neglect in New Zealand.

The cases included an Alexandra youth who shot his dog with a BB gun, Kaikoura teenagers who bludgeoned seals to death, and a Christchurch youngster who committed bestiality with a donkey.

Of 45 highlighted cases, three were in Otago, one case in Wanaka, another in Alexandra and two in Southland.

In one of the worst cases, a dead dog was found locked in a room in an Invercargill house in March.

The pooch was left to starve and was found surrounded by rubbish and faeces by SPCA staff, who successfully prosecuted the female owner.

In Otatara, near Invercargill, a dog was found burnt, bloodied and peeling after being doused in solvent in December.

SPCA staff found the dog with its back legs tied with nylon.

In Alexandra in January an 18-year-old male shot his dog with a BB gun to try to stop it barking and, in Wanaka during December, a dog was left without shelter or water after surgery on its knee.

The dog was found lying on a wet blanket covered in urine and faeces in the Central Otago summer heat.

In Dunedin in November, a schoolboy was caught torturing hens.

SPCA chief executive Robyn Kippenberger said the list included a disturbing number of cases involving young people.

“Our list of shame is not a comprehensive account of every act of cruelty, callousness or unmitigated sadism committed against New Zealand’s animals but it does contain many of the worst cases,” Mr Kippenberger said.

Young people were committing some of the worst acts of cruelty, he said.

“The most disturbing aspect of this youth behaviour is that we know there is a link between cruelty to animals and violence and abuse towards other humans.”

SPCA inspectors were working hard to prosecute cases of animal cruelty and those convicted faced stiffer penalties since this year’s Animal Welfare Amendment Act, he said.

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