Police said one of the alleged offenders charged with animal cruelty following a video circulating social media has been released on bail as he awaits court action.
Following a video circulating on social media yesterday involving two males allegedly throwing very young puppies into the Whakatāne River, Police said the offenders are being dealt with.
Senior Sergeant Cam MacKinnon, Area Response Manager for Whakatāne, said the situation involved both public assistance and cooperation from the offenders.
"In a combination situation between a little bit of public assistance, but also a little bit of buy-in from the offenders, who are both quite aware that their behaviour was substandard, they were ready to account for their actions," he said.
A 19-year-old man has been charged with animal cruelty, and has been released on bail under specific conditions.
"The 19-year-old is on bail conditions not to offer violence to persons, property, or animals, a fairly standard condition."
While it can be difficult to fully remove interaction with animals, "we have restrictions in place on that individual, he's remorseful and has accounted for his actions, and we don't believe there will be a repeat of his behaviour," MacKinnon said.
A 17-year-old male will face similar action, through Youth Aid.
MacKinnon said the offender was referred to Youth Aid because of his age and the fact he self-presented.
"Some provisions will be implemented by Youth Aid, but he doesn't immediately face court action," he said.
MacKinnon said those who witnessed the incident or saw the video on social media and reported it to police "enabled us to have a swift response."
"The police want members of the public to call us if they see this type of behaviour - it's unacceptable."
"But from time to time, incidents like this do occur, and the quicker we get the information and the more succinct the information is, the better we can clamp down on the problem."
MacKinnon acknowledged due to the video circulating on social media, some unrelated businesses may be experiencing backlash.
"Given the circumstances of the incident where I understand, some parameters were involved with a logo that may, unfortunately, have been visible during the video, it just reminds the public out there that to take a step back when they see some footage like that."
"Sometimes it can be quite confronting and alarming, but it doesn't mean everything you see is definitively the culprit in the situation," he said.
He said any suggestion a firm was involved is unfortunate and unrelated to the actions shown in the video.
