A woman has faced court action after refusing to seek urgent veterinary treatment for her puppy for two months after it was struck by a vehicle.

She was charged with one count of reckless ill treatment of an animal after her seven-month-old puppy, Girl, slipped loose from her lead, ran out onto the road and was hit by a vehicle in October 2021.

The woman was today sentenced at Napier District Court in relation to the SPCA charge and a number of unrelated police charges. The combined sentence handed down was 17 months imprisonment.

Nearby roadworkers who witnessed the incident took the defendant and Girl to a vet clinic for urgent treatment.

The veterinarian told the defendant that Girl had “serious internal injuries”, including fractures, a ruptured diaphragm and blunt force trauma to the lungs, as well as being in an “extreme amount of pain.”

The defendant began screaming at the veterinarian, saying she had no money for treatment. The vet offered her financial options for treatment, as well as euthanasia as a humane option, but the defendant became verbally abusive and screamed at the veterinarian to leave the room.

The vet clinic then contacted SPCA and an Inspector spoke to the defendant, suggesting that she surrender Girl to SPCA for urgent medical treatment.

Despite being told by the veterinarian that Girl’s pain relief would only last two hours, the defendant then left the clinic with the puppy.

Inspectors arrived at the defendant’s address hours later but were told she didn’t live there. They continued to try to locate the woman and puppy, without success. In December, SPCA received a call about a puppy with a broken leg tied up outside an office building. An Inspector attended and discovered it was Girl, who wasn’t bearing any weight on her front leg.

When the Inspector attempted to take the dog, the defendant forcibly removed her and left. Days later, SPCA found Girl at a Christchurch address with her right foreleg dangling and unable to put weight on it. Police had to restrain the defendant as SPCA removed Girl from the address for veterinary treatment.

The defendant told SPCA when she’d first taken Girl home after her injury, she’d “bandaged her leg up with sticks after watching a YouTube video”. She said Girl didn’t get up for three days and she didn’t seek veterinary treatment but removed the sticks after one-and-a-half months.

X-Rays found Girl had healing fractures to her upper and lower right leg. Her right elbow joint was dislocated and there was muscle wastage on her right shoulder.

The vet concluded that Girl’s fracture should have been treated at the time and managed with pain relief. The vet said Girl would have “been in a lot of pain and distress at the time and would have suffered greatly”.

As the injuries were so extensive and left untreated for two months, Girl’s leg was amputated.

SPCA Chief Executive Todd Westwood says the owner’s actions were incredibly irresponsible and the puppy would have suffered a great deal as a result.

“Withholding treatment to an injured animal is extremely cruel and in this case the owner was given several options of help and advice by the vet and SPCA which she willingly ignored. Her actions were completely unacceptable.

“There is some comfort though knowing that after spending time in SPCA’s care we were able to find Girl a loving new forever home.”

The defendant was also disqualified from owning dogs for five years.

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