CONVICTED (2015) | backyard breeder, horse trader and bloodsports enthusiast Kyle James Ashman, born 15/01/1990, of Swaledale Close, Hetton-le-Hole, Houghton-le-Spring, County Durham DH5 0DY – starved a nursing lurcher to emaciation
Father of two Kyle Ashman pleaded guilty to causing unnecessary suffering to a lurcher bitch and her puppy by not giving the female dog enough food.
The court heard that Ashman had been left alone to look after his children along with nine animals, after the children’s mother walked out. He lost his job and “was unable to cope”.
John Ellwood, prosecuting for the RSPCA, said the charity’s inspectors were tipped off about the dogs and called round to the house where they found the bitch, Coco, “starved to the point of emaciation” with her seven puppies.
Most of the other puppies were underweight as Coco could not produce enough milk but one, the runt, was in a particularly bad state.
Mr Ellwood said all the animals have made a recovery while in the RSPCA’s care.
He added: “Coco was the subject of prolonged neglect. Either she was not fed anything, in which case the period would have been shorter but the suffering extreme. Or she was fed too little, in which case the neglect would have been over a longer period.”
He said that at the time of seizure, Coco weighed 9.88kg.
Sentence: 12 weeks in custody, suspended for 12 months; £500 in costs; disqualified from owning a dog for five years (expired November 2020).