Farmer fined over sheep deaths

Neville Steward Harper, age 62, was sentenced in the Invercargill District Court last week on 12 charges under the Animal Welfare Act, following prosecution by Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI).

On 21 July 2021, an MPI animal welfare inspector and veterinarian carried out an inspection of Harper’s sheep. Eight sheep were dead, three had to be euthanised and a further 28 were lacking sufficient food because of poor grazable pasture and low-quality feeding baleage.

“Most farmers do the right thing and Mr Harper is an experienced farmer and knew what he needed to do to feed and provide for his animals,” says MPI regional manager animal welfare and National Animal Identification & Tracing (NAIT) compliance, Murray Pridham.

“The deaths of these sheep were preventable if he had lived up to his responsibilities under the Code of Welfare for sheep,” he says.

An animal welfare inspector found six dead ewes and two dead lambs during their inquiries in July 2021 approximately 500 metres from Harper’s house.

Three other sheep were found unable to stand, were unresponsive and had to be euthanised to end their suffering.

The animals left alive were also in the same poor conditions and Harper was ordered to destock the property within 24 hours under an Animal Welfare Act Notice of Direction.

“Two days later, we saw the sheep at another of Mr Harper’s properties about a kilometre away with sufficient feed, water and shelter,” says Pridham. “Clearly, he knew what he needed to do to look after his animals and should have acted to prevent their suffering. It should not have had to take a legal directive for him to take responsibility for their welfare.”

MPI encourages any member of the public aware of animal ill-treatment or cruelty to report it to the MPI animal welfare complaints freephone 0800 00 83 33.