CONVICTED (2024) | petting farm owners Alan Riley, born c. 1970, and Sarah Nethercoat, born 14 July 1989, of Park Avenue, Beverley HU17 7AT – neglected a donkey and pony until they became so unwell they had to be put down.
Melody, a 30-year-old pony, and Maggie, a 15-year-old grey donkey, were among the animals neglected by Alan Riley and Sarah Nethercoat, owners of Aroha Donkeys rescue centre and sanctuary, at Ashfield Farm in Wilfholme, between Beverley and Driffield. Both were so emaciated and distressed that vets had no option but to euthanise them.
In court the couple admitted causing unnecessary suffering to the animals in 2021.
Aroha Donkeys was run as a business, which initially cared for donkeys used in beach rides but expanded to become a breeding and training centre. A total of 20 donkeys were kept at the centre as well as goats and ponies.
The RSPCA first became involved with the couple in July 2019, when a welfare officer advised them to provide the donkeys with shelter. Riley and Nethercoat insisted that a hedge in the field provided sufficient shelter for the animals. They also claimed that the donkeys received regular hoof and dental care.
The RSPCA issued them with a non-statutory improvement notice. Follow-up attempts to contact the pair were unsuccessful.
On a subsequent visit, officers found dirty bedding full of faeces. A shelter was too small for the number of animals using the centre.
In November 2021, RSPCA inspectors Tom Hutton and Alice Wilson along with staff from the Donkey Sanctuary charity, paid a visit to Ashfield Farm where they found around 25 horses and donkeys, owned by the pair, living in poor conditions in a field and barn.
Inspectors found poor quality fencing. A shelter area was made of corrugated iron, which was described as “rusty and dangerous”,
Inspector Hutton said in a statement presented to the court that there were concerns for the health of four animals, in particular Maggie and Melody.
“There were around 23 equines in a large paddock and an open barn with a thick straw bedding with excessive faeces inside,” said the inspector.
“As I walked around the field, there were several hazards littering the perimeter, including bits of loose wire, fallen fencing and loose fence posts.
“One small pony was extremely underweight as it walked across the field towards us with her head down. Her ribs and hip bones were excessively prominent.”
“The owners said they were providing feed. But there was now evidence the animals were in a sub-optimal condition,” he added.
Vet Suzanne Green attended the scene and found Melody in a weak, thin and lethargic state, with a wound to the side shoulder and a second large wound on one of her thighs.
They were inflamed and bleeding and in the vet’s expert opinion they had been left untreated for weeks, if not months.
Nethercoat told the vet that the wound had been treated for about six months with antibiotics. No evidence was provided to substantiate the treatment.
Melody and Maggie and the two other horses were removed from the field, with Melody later transferred to an equine hospital for treatment.
Prosecutor Phil Brown told the court: “Melody needed urgent treatment for overgrown hooves as there had been a lack of hoof care. There was pain and suffering.
“Euthanasia was the only way to ease the suffering,
“They also found ulcerations to the mouth which had made eating difficult.”
Pregnant donkey Maggie required urgent treatment to her hooves. X-rays taken later showed that the failure to provide hoof care had caused malformed bone structures within her feet and osteoarthritis.
She had bonded with another donkey who was earlier found dead in a field.
Maggie gave birth before she too was put down in February 2024.
Riley’s lawyer, Matthew Moore-Taylor, told the court his client had an acute bowel condition, which caused a serious reduction in his weight. Before 2021, all the animals in the centre were in good condition, he added.
For Nethercoat, Sheila Whitehead said: “She needed more help than she admitted. People came to her with wild animals for care. She has always allowed the animals to come to her irrespective of the condition they were in..”
The pony was old. so certain treatments could not be done, Miss Whitehead said. “She was very upset it had got to the level that it had.
“She is remorseful that it got to the position that it had,” she added.
It was claimed that any money raised at the donkey sanctuary was ploughed back into the centre for feed and care.
Sentencing the pair, Recorder MacDonald KC said he had read testimonials highlighting their care for animals.
“But you don’t have to be an expert to see that the pony had three significant injuries, ribs sticking out and was malnourished and you could see it needed veterinary treatment,” he added.
“It is perfectly clear to me, being a non-veterinary person, its ribs were poking out and it had a large wound on the shoulder and the thigh was bleeding. These injuries had been there for weeks or months. It was chronically mal-nourished.”
Recorder MacDonald said that he did not view the petting farm as a money-making venture. He accepted that both defendants had health problems and it was this that caused neglect of the animals, rather than a cynical disregard for the animals’ care to make money.
“These were just two of a much larger number of animals which were generally in good condition,” Recorder MacDonald added.
Speaking after the sentencing, RSPCA inspector Tom Hutton said: “This was a clear case of neglect. Both these equines were left in appalling conditions when they needed urgent vet treatment and one sadly had to be put to sleep because she was so unwell.”
Riley, a former farmer, and Nethercoat, who worked as a riding instructor, were well-known in the area as their donkeys, many of whom were rescue animals, took part in events such as the Beverley Christmas Festival.
In 2021 they were given sudden notice to leave a smallholding between Beverley and Driffield they had been renting from a farmer and appealed for the public’s help in finding a new home.
Sentencing | six-month custodial, suspended for two years; 25 rehabilitation days. No order for costs was imposed because the petting farm was not making money. Both are disqualified from keeping donkeys, mules and equine hybrids for 10 years.