'Not my fault,' says owner of starved dog

The woman being hunted by the SPCA over starved puppy Eve says she's no mongrel.

Paulette Taki's name was publicly released by the animal welfare group earlier last week because it believed she had information about one of New Zealand's worst-ever cases of animal neglect.

The 11-month-old Ridgeback cross was just a day from death when SPCA officers who named her Eve rescued her on Christmas Eve from under Taki's state house in the Auckland suburb of Glen Innes.

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But when Sunday News tracked Taki down to a relative's home in Katikati, north of Tauranga, on Thursday, she denied responsibility for the pup's poor condition saying she had left it in a relative's care while she was away visiting a terminally-ill aunt.

"I told (a relative) to look after my dog, I gave (her) the dog rolls and that because I had to come down here," Taki said.

"I'm not taking the blame, hell no."

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This is a sad case. She is legally responsible, but quite frankly, didn't she ring to find out how her dog was doing?? She obviously didn't pick the right relative to look after the dog.