Warning this article contains graphic details.
A Manawatu woman has been sentenced to 100 hours' community work for ill-treating a goat.
Yvette Doorey was prosecuted by the SPCA after she was found to have neglected her goat, causing it to live the last few weeks of its life in distress.
She was also banned from owning any stock animals for three years and ordered to pay reparations of $544.21 along with SPCA's legal fees of $300.
The goat - named Goatie - was found by an SPCA inspector in August last year chained to a trailer with no shelter or water.
Tracy Phillips, SPCA's general manager inspectorate, said it was cruel to leave goats - which are intelligent and curious animals - neglected like this.
"This case shows how tragic this attitude can be, resulting in a desperately dehydrated goat."
The SPCA said the goat was very thin with eyes that "appeared sunken into her head".
"All four of her hooves were severely overgrown, particularly the right hind, and faecal testing revealed a severe gastrointestinal parasite burden."
A post-mortem showed the animal had no food in her stomach, but had eaten a piece of knotted rope, a sheet of plastic and "round foreign body that had an irregular crumpled surface", the SPCA said.
"All goats must have access to a reliable daily supply to drinking water, and the trough must be at an appropriate height. Goats also do not possess the ability to withstand cold conditions due to a different distribution of fat and consistency of their coat and therefore require adequate shelter to prevent heat and cold stress," Phillips said.
According to the SPCA, there was a "huge amount of parasites" in the animal's stomach and intestine, and the gallbladder was massively distended with watery yellow bile, likely because it hadn't eaten prior to its death.
"Unfortunately, the parasite burden Goatie was living with was off the scale and can only be described as literally, 'sucking the life out of her'. She also went without basic husbandry requirements which was fatal. She suffered alone during the winter months with no option for relief."
The woman told investigators she had owned the goat for several months and thought she looked fine. She said while she hadn't given the animal any supplementary feed she had given her water one day before the SPCA's visit.
Doorey was sentenced at the Palmerston North District Court.
