A Pembrokeshire lady has been disqualified from retaining animals for 10 years and handed a suspended custody sentence after she failed to make sure the wants of 30 poodles had been met – with all however one discovered to be struggling.
The poodle sort dogs had been discovered dwelling in a poor setting overloaded with canine faeces and with severely matted coats, by the RSPCA and Pembrokeshire County Council canine warden Sally Bland in September final yr.
They had been subsequently taken into RSPCA care and following a veterinary test had been transferred to RSPCA centres, RSPCA branches, and one other rescue charity for boarding.
Twenty-three dogs had been signed over to the RSPCA and permission was given by the proprietor for the remaining seven dogs to be eliminated and boarded.
Sixty-seven-year-old Alison Denise Silk of Camrose, Haverfordwest, appeared at Haverfordwest Magistrates’ Court on January 25 and pleaded responsible to 4 offences beneath the Animal Welfare Act.
They had been that she prompted pointless struggling to twenty poodle dogs by failing to supply satisfactory diet for the animals’ wants, prompted pointless struggling to 5 poodle dogs, by failing to supply veterinary therapy for extreme dental illness, and prompted pointless struggling to 29 poodle dogs by failing to supply any or satisfactory grooming.
Finally, she didn’t take steps to make sure the wants of 30 poodles had been met to the extent required by good observe (full wording under).
Sentencing took place on Tuesday, February 20 at Haverfordwest Magistrates’ Court, and Silk was handed a disqualification order, banning her from retaining any animal for 10 years.
She was handed a 26 week custodial sentence which was suspended for 12 months for the three pointless struggling offences and she or he was handed a 16 week custodial sentence which was suspended for 12 months for the fourth offence. These will run concurrently.
Silk was additionally ordered to undertake 10 rehabilitation days with the probation service and the seven dogs that had not been signed over have now been placed into the possession of the RSPCA. She was additionally ordered to pay a sufferer surcharge of £154.
Silk appeared unrepresented at court docket. The District Judge really helpful that recommendation was available from the responsibility solicitor however this was not taken.
Many of the dogs had been in want of medical procedures, the court docket heard. (RSPCA)
In her mitigation she instructed the court docket she was sorry and spoke about her household circumstances and well being points.
An announcement supplied to the court docket from RSPCA inspector Keith Hogben, who attended the Haverfordwest property on September 4 final yr, mentioned as he entered the entrance door, he may scent “a very unpleasant smell of dog faeces and urine”.
Inspector Hogben added: “The door to the kitchen was closed and as the door was opened a large number of dogs greeted us, the dogs were all barking and each of the dogs were heavily matted.”
He was subsequent proven in a conservatory.
“The room was very hot with dogs in cages and large amounts of faeces both fresh and trodden into the floor,” he mentioned.
“Any bedding in the dog cages was soiled and there was no water in this room for any of the dogs.
“Again the dogs in this room had heavily matted coats which were contaminated with faeces. I did not see any windows open. We were then shown to the dog’s at the rear of the property that were kept in two dog runs.
“The back garden was covered with dog faeces of various ages and had obviously not been cleaned for many weeks/months, by the door to the conservatory was a wheelbarrow with dog faeces in it.”
There had been eight dogs all with closely matted coats with no water within the first kennel and there have been two rabbit sort feeding bottles on the bars of the run which had been each empty.
Inspector Hogben mentioned: “Inside the kennel was a large amount of faeces and hardly any bedding in the sleeping area, just a couple of plastic dog beds.
“There was a large build up of faeces in this kennel which had not been cleaned out for a very long time. The door to the kennel could not be opened fully due to the build up of faeces.
“These dog’s were then let out by Alison Silk and they started to drink from a bucket containing green coloured water.”
A vet who attended confirmed that every one the dogs would have to be eliminated because of their physique situations and their setting.
A witness assertion was supplied to the court docket by a vet who examined the 30 dogs at RSPCA Merthyr Tydfil Veterinary Clinic, between the 5 and seven of September 2023.
She mentioned: “The dogs all had severe matting over the majority of their bodies with faeces and urine within the matts and a very strong smell of faeces and urine, with the exception of one who showed signs of being recently groomed but still had heavy matting on one leg (with faeces in), his tail (with faeces in), and the tip of his prepuce (with urine in).
“Another dog had some small clip patches indicating a partial attempt at grooming but was still heavily matted including one ear being matted to the side of his head.
“Three of the male dogs – had a matt directly over the opening of their prepuce, meaning they were always urinating into the matt and unable to exteriorise their penises, and one had urine-soaked matting on his prepuce that, when removed, revealed an area of urine scalding.
“Many of the dogs had large matts under their chins soaked in water, as they were unable to drink without dipping the matts in water.
“Seven of the dogs had live fleas seen when examined. All dogs apart from one were underweight, with four scoring 1/9 on a body conditioning scale and 16 scoring 2/9.”
Many of the dogs had been in want of medical procedures, the court docket heard.
The vet added: “Twelve had severe dental disease and were likely in need of teeth extractions. Seven others had at least moderate dental disease and would benefit from having their teeth cleaned and assessed under a general anaesthetic.
“Seventeen had signs of ocular disease such as inflammation of the conjunctiva, hair loss around the eyes and inflammation of the periocular tissues, or discharge from one or both eyes.
“Many had matts hanging over their eyes and a few had matts formed between hair on their upper and lower eyelids on at least one eye, partially holding their eyes shut. The most likely cause of the eye issues seemed likely to me to be local irritation from the matts or the level of faeces and urine in the environment, but I cannot rule out an infectious cause.”
It was heard that every one dogs had flea therapy utilized and had been wormed and vaccinations had been additionally given.
The vet added: “Where possible, fur was clipped to allow better movement and comfort, as the level of matting in almost all of these dogs was severe enough that it was limiting joint movement and the heaviness of the matts would be pulling on the skin and causing discomfort.”
Further grooming was then carried out at animal centres and boarding institutions.
Five young male and one feminine poodles went to Greenacres Animal Rescue for rehoming, with the others taken into the care of RSPCA centres and RSPCA branches for rehoming. Sadly one canine was put to sleep on welfare grounds.
The last seven dogs who following the listening to have been signed over to the RSPCA will now be rehomed.
Following the listening to, inspector Hobgen, mentioned: “We would like to thank everyone who was involved in this case, especially Pembrokeshire County Council dog warden Sally Bland, Greenacres Rescue, a number of RSPCA branches, and the member of the public who reported this incident.”
