The SPCA has released its sixth list of shame outlining a year of cruelty to animals, showing people's continued inhumanity to pets and livestock.
The list detailed 50 cases of callous behaviour, with many of the incidents involving young people, SPCA chief executive Robyn Kippenberger said.
Many of the animals listed had been successfully rehabilitated and the perpetrators identified and prosecuted, she said.
"A particularly chilling feature of the list is the number of incidents of cruelty involving children and young people, such as the two Hastings youths who kicked and tossed a young lamb and the eight-year-old from Upper Hutt seen hitting a puppy and throwing it against a wall."
A number of the animals had been injured by slug gun pellets and other projectiles, and there were signs that children were being allowed to use animals for target practice, she said.
"If parents think such activities are harmless, they should remember the huge body of evidence linking childhood cruelty towards animals with violence towards fellow humans in later life, and do something about it before their children's attitudes and behaviour becomes ingrained."
Cases of neglect included an Auckland dog discovered on Christmas Eve after surviving without food or water for at least five weeks, and an elderly dog, its testicles ruptured by cancer, abandoned in a picnic area near Whakatane.
"The level of callousness shown in such cases is truly shocking. It's hard to imagine how anyone could simply abandon an animal to starve or sit by, day after day, watching it suffer.
"Yet, as the List of Shame shows, such disregard for the lives of other creatures is far from uncommon," Ms Kippenberger said.
SPCA inspectors were increasingly effective at identifying and prosecuting offenders, she said.
