SPCA inspectors have removed the partially-charred body of a pet dog being cooked in a backyard barbecue. But they cannot prosecute anyone over its death because it had been killed "humanely".
Frustrated SPCA Auckland chief executive Garth Halliday revealed it isn't illegal to kill and then eat a dog in New Zealand if the animal is slaughtered in a swift and painless manner. Halliday said shocked inspectors had evidence that backyard dog barbecues were becoming more common.
Paea Taufa, found roasting the pitbull terrier-cross in an umu at his Mangere home, said dog was a Tongan culinary delicacy. "If we eat heaps of... pig you get a (sore) stomach. But when we eat ... dog, it doesn't matter how much you eat, nothing is wrong with the tummy," Taufa told said. Mary Lyn Fonua, managing editor of the Nuku'alofa-based Matangi Tonga news website, said dogs were eaten in Tonga but usually by desperately poor people.
Taufa was "surprised" when the Fire Service and the SPCA closed down his backyard roast. He said the dog had originally belonged to a family member, but he took over ownership as it was "too skinny". The decision to cook it was made after it became unruly. "My wife did not like that dog, it was too messy and sometimes he tried to bite some people that came home," Taufa said.
"I didn't know I couldn't cook the dog. In Tonga, anytime there I cook the dog and it is okay. Dog is good food." Inspector Derek Haddy, who headed the SPCA's investigation, said: "It was his (Taufa's) cousin's dog so he adopted the dog and looked after it."
"He killed it by striking it to the head which is a lawful way, or a humane way, of stunning an animal in order to then slit its throat and then bleed it... that is within the law." Baudet added: "One of the main ingredients we have to prove is pain and suffering. Because (the pitbull-cross) was rendered unconscious prior to being stabbed...we can't prove pain and suffering." Taufa said he wouldn't put another dog in the umu pit.
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