{"id":49430,"date":"2025-09-29T04:39:07","date_gmt":"2025-09-29T04:39:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/49430\/"},"modified":"2025-09-29T04:39:07","modified_gmt":"2025-09-29T04:39:07","slug":"farmer-fined-15k-after-animal-neglect-at-kaiparas-kauri-farms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/49430\/","title":{"rendered":"Farmer fined $15k after animal neglect at Kaipara\u2019s Kauri Farms"},"content":{"rendered":"

MPI inspectors<\/a> visited the farm, which housed around 400 calves, three times.<\/p>\n

In a summary of facts read to the court, MPI examined 65 animals and found all but two were significantly underweight<\/a> \u2013 averaging 78kg when they should have weighed at least 105kg.<\/p>\n

The calves had been weaned off milk but were not receiving the necessary supplementary protein for their age.<\/p>\n

Inspectors also noted Flett<\/a> was not providing adequate feed for the growing animals.<\/p>\n

One calf was severely crippled with swollen joints, leaving it unable to bear weight on its right legs. <\/p>\n

Two others were dangerously emaciated, and another was found trapped in a muddy bog, dehydrated, undernourished and too weak to escape. <\/p>\n

All four were in such poor condition they had to be euthanised. <\/p>\n

The court heard that, additionally, nine calves were discovered dead in a paddock, with no signs that they had been humanely put down.<\/p>\n

Flett\u2019s lawyer, Chris Muston,<\/a> argued the neglect occurred after Covid-19 and a particularly harsh winter, but said his client had since made significant improvements.<\/p>\n

He presented a veterinary report that supported this claim.<\/p>\n

\"ManyMany of the cows at the farm were underweight. Photo \/ MPI<\/p>\n

\u201cOverall, Mr Flett largely followed my recommendations, and the vast majority of animals returned to good health,\u201d Muston read from the report.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome animals did decline in health, but those that became sick were treated or euthanised. Mr Flett did well to remedy the situation.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s learned from his mistakes,\u201d Muston submitted.<\/p>\n

Flett requested name suppression, claiming a friend had warned him that public identification would harm his business. However, Judge Greg Davis denied the request.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fact there is a conviction is not an exceptional circumstance \u2013 that\u2019s simply part of having a conviction,\u201d the judge said.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of your mates saying your business will suffer doesn\u2019t, in my mind, meet the threshold of exceptional circumstance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since the incident, Flett had reduced his herd to 50 cattle. He was fined $15,000 and ordered to pay $4312 in legal costs to MPI.<\/p>\n

Following the sentencing, MPI said in a statement it was Flett\u2019s responsibility to do the right thing by his animals.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese welfare problems were avoidable if Mr Flett had been providing sufficient feed and meeting the physical health and behavioural needs of his animals,\u201d MPI animal welfare and Nait compliance regional manager Brendon Mikkelsen said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe farm lacked quality pasture and some of the calves struggled to eat supplementary feed, which was mouldy hay and whole k\u016bmara.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we find evidence of animal neglect, we take action.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shannon Pitman is a Whang\u0101rei-based reporter for Open Justice covering courts in the Te Tai Tokerau region. She is of Ng\u0101puhi\/ Ng\u0101ti P\u016bkenga descent and has worked in digital media for the past five years. She joined NZME in 2023.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MPI inspectors visited the farm, which housed around 400 calves, three times. In a summary of facts read…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":49431,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42918,74,3648,1975,12026,12705,19631,42,42920,42921,42919,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-49430","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-15k","tag-after","tag-animal","tag-at","tag-farmer","tag-farms","tag-fined","tag-headlines","tag-kaiparas","tag-kauri","tag-neglect","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49430","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49430"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49430\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49431"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49430"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49430"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49430"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}