Below are recent press reports of two prosecutions Roger Price has dealt with on behalf of the RSPCA.
Teenager admits starving dog
A teenager admitted starving his dog to the point where she was emaciated, a court heard.
Luke Evans, aged 19, of Gough Street, Willenhall, appeared at Walsall Magistrates’ Court and pleaded guilty to two counts of causing unnecessary suffering to Alsatian, Belle, in August last year.
Evans initially said he had not been able to feed the dog because he was living at his girlfriend’s house but when the inspector noticed he was wearing an electronic tag to ensure he complies with a curfew as punishment for a previous offence, he admitted he was at his home address every night.
Mr Roger Price, prosecuting on behalf of the RSPCA who found the dog after a tip-off, said when the inspector came to see the dog, Evans simply said “take it” as he did not want her anymore. Mr Price said Evans agreed to be interviewed under caution and admitted he had not fed Bella properly and knew that she was thin.
When Bella was examined by a vet, the vet said she weighted in at 59 per cent of her ideal weight, and on a scale of 0 to five, where 0 is nearly dead from starvation and five is obese, Bella rated one, Mr Price told the magistrates.
Mr Price added that the vet estimated the animal had been suffering with starvation for at least three weeks.
He applied for costs to be paid by Evans, including £849 prosecution costs, £363 for the RSPCA inspections and £282 in veterinary fees, along with an application to disqualify the teenager from keeping animals.
Evans is due to be sentenced on January 18 and was warned he could face jail.
12 year ban for rabbit owner
A woman who kept 29 rabbits and three guinea pigs in battery farm-type conditions at her Black Country home has been ordered to pay £8,000 by a court.
Margaret Walsh, who was also banned from keeping animals for 12 years, ignored repeated pleas from the RSPCA to hand over her pets into their care and would not take advice on how to look after them.
Instead she kept the creatures in cramped cages with not enough room for them to stand on their hinds legs without their ears hitting the top of the box.
The cages, many of them made out of Perspex, where stacked one on top of the other, blocking any form of ventilation. For more than two years the 52 year old was visited by concerned RSPCA inspectors at her home in First Avenue, Low Hill, Wolverhampton, where the pets were kept in the living room, bedroom and garden shed.
Photographs handed to Wolverhampton Magistrates Court yesterday showed that some the rabbits had painfully overgrown claws.
Mr Roger Price, prosecuting for the RSPCA, said the cost of the prosecution, including veterinary and boarding fees, was almost £16,000. The judge ordered Walsh to pay half the costs at the rate of £10 per week admitting it would take around 16 years to pay off.
Walsh, who pleaded guilty to three charges of failing to ensure the welfare of her animals, was also given a two year community order with supervision.
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RSPCA
Wilberforce Way
Southwater
Horsham
West Sussex
RH13 9RS
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30 January 2010
