Animal welfare authorities investigated 556 cruelty reports last financial year.

A DOG who is not allowed to sleep inside at night and pets whose owners don’t speak to them after work have made up more than 550 animal cruelty complaints.

Cute animals

A DOG who is not allowed to sleep inside at night and pets whose owners don’t speak to them after work were among more than 550 animal cruelty complaints to NT Animal Welfare workers last financial year.

Cows left in the rain during the wet season – and in the sun during the Dry – also featured, as did a pooch without a bed to sleep on.

The reports from well-meaning animal lovers, or neighbours with an axe to grind, offered investigators a chance for a brief smile as they worked to respond to a litany of serious and heartbreaking welfare complaints.

The Animal Welfare Branch, the administrative arm of the Animal Welfare Authority, has hit 11 successful prosecutions from 556 reports in 2013-14.

In one shocking incident, a starving dog died just minutes before investigators arrived.

Its companion was so emaciated it had to be put down.

The owners pleaded guilty to failing in their duty of care and were fined just $150 for each incident.

They will again be allowed to own animals in five months.

The Department of Primary Industries confirmed welfare inspectors found a dead dog covered in ticks at Malak in June. The owner gave no excuse and was fined $750.

Inspectors found a dog with hair loss, severe swelling, open sores, bacterial infections and scabs – the owner said he couldn’t afford a vet and was fined $350.

For the RSPCA, the cases are examples of the Northern Territory’s soft touch on animal cruelty.

Failing in a duty of care carries a maximum penalty of one year in jail or a $13,700 fine under the Animal Welfare Act – the weakest in the nation.

Offenders in Western Australia face a top sentence of five years’ jail or a $50,000 fine.

The Government is working through a long-running review of the Act.

Tougher penalties are high on the RSPCA’s wish-list.

It has also sought more powers of entry for investigators, who are banned from entering homes to provide urgent care to animals or to conduct compliance inspections.

The review is examining the abolition of the Animal Welfare Authority, which administers the Act.

A 2011 government subcommittee, which examined horrific cattle malnourishment at Charles Darwin University’s Mataranka Station in 2009, found the Act should be amended.