Four poachers who allegedly crammed their car "to the roof" with stolen sheep could face stiff penalties for animal abuse.
Hastings police caught two local men, aged 23 and 16, in a suburb of Flaxmere yesterday with 14 sheep allegedly stuffed into their Mazda four-door saloon.
Police are still hunting two more men.
The sheep, which Senior Sergeant Eden Sewell said were "distressed", were bound by the legs and placed in the back seat, including the footwells, the boot, and inside the spare wheel well.
Animal Control removed them from the car, but two of them died as a result of the stifling conditions, he said.
Snr Sgt Sewell described the treatment of the sheep as a "disgusting and an unnecessary act of cruelty".
The sheep were believed to be stolen from local farms.
Police officers had tried to stop the car in a Flaxmere suburb at 3am, seeing that it was heaving with sheep.
After a short pursuit, the men left the car behind, running through a local park, where two of them were apprehended.
They will appear in the Hastings District Court on Thursday.
SPCA national chief investigator Charles Cadwallader said yesterday he would encourage police to charge the men under the Animal Welfare Act.
He said from police reports, the treatment of the animals was at the worst end of the scale.
Under an amended Act which is before Parliament, the maximum penalty for wilful mistreatment of animals could be nearly doubled to five years' jail or a fine of $100,000.
SPCA national chief executive Robyn Kippenberger said it was most recent in a series of "bizarre" cases of animal cruelty.
"Recently, a man shot 33 dogs on a property north of Auckland, another man fed kittens to his pit bull, and someone trapped and painted hawks.
"It beggars belief."
