Show judge guilty of 'horrible' animal cruelty | Hawkes Bay News | Local News in Hawkes Bay

A well-known former New Zealand Kennel Club dog-show judge and his wife were each convicted on three animal-cruelty charges at Palmerston North District Court yesterday.

They were found to have mistreated more than 200 animals.

The SPCA found 87 dogs and 161 cats, owned by David Neil Balfour and his wife, Daryl Kirsty Reid Balfour, were kept in cramped conditions with insufficient shelter, water, lighting and ventilation on a property near Dannevirke in 2007.

Half of the animals were put down as a result of the ill-treatment, and about 50 cats were treated by Wairarapa veterinary surgeon John McLaren.

Some of the cats took up to three years to recover fully from the abuse.

The couple kept the animals as part of a breeding operation at a former pig farm.

The mistreatment allegedly took place between August 2006 and March 2007, but the long-running case was held up by protracted legal wrangling.

SPCA senior operations inspector Jim Boyd said the couple were convicted of three of the four charges they faced.

Each was charged with two counts of failing to ensure that the physical health and behavioural needs of the animals were met and two counts of ill-treatment of animals. One count related to cats and one to dogs. They were found not guilty of ill-treating the dogs.

Mr Boyd said the process has taken at least 10 weeks of court time, and judge Grant Fraser also found accusations the SPCA had planted some of the animals to be untrue.

Mr Boyd was involved in the investigation, and said the animals were forced to live in a "very horrible" environment.

"We're very pleased this is over. It's been a very, very difficult case. The situation was very bad."

The couple have been remanded until February 15.APNZ