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Story: Pets

SPCA inspector at work

SPCA inspector at work

Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) inspector Alf Benning carries cages with wild cats, captured near the Beehive (New Zealand’s Parliament Buildings, in Wellington) in 1977. As well as helping to enforce animal welfare legislation, inspectors intervene to prevent the suffering of wild and stray animals.

Using this item

Alexander Turnbull Library, Dominion Post Collection (PA-Group-00685)

Reference: EP/1977/0979/23A

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

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How to cite this page

Nancy Swarbrick, Pets – Animal welfare history, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/19743/spca-inspector-at-work (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Nancy Swarbrick, published 1 March 2009.

Comments

Robyn
16 August 2015
And while plotting his wife's death, he practised killing and dismembering cats.
Francis Glenday
27 March 2015
Yeah.. you know Alf Benning brutally murdered his wife days after this photo was taken, right?