CONVICTED (2018) | Adrian Appleyard, born January 1977, of Springhead Road, Rothwell, Leeds LS26 0EX, and Karl Harwood, born 1978, of Ivy Gardens, Bramley, Leeds LS13 2NH – neglected three dogs used to guard a building site.
Appleyard and Harwood were found guilty in their absence of mistreating and failing to ensure the welfare of an Anatolian shepherd dog called Athena and two Caucasian shepherd dogs called Koda and Sasha.
The dogs were kept as guard dogs on a building site on Hollin Busk Lane, Deepcar, Sheffield and were left unattended between January 20 and January 23, 2018, prompting RSPCA inspectors to visit the site.
Insp Kim Greaves told the court the dogs had been left in three shelters but the roof of one covering two of the dogs – Koda and Sasha – had blown off, leaving them exposed to ‘bitterly’ cold conditions and snow.
She said she first visited the site on Friday, January 19, following a call from a member of the public and when she returned on Monday, January 22, the set-up was exactly the same, with tape seals placed on the gates of the compounds by inspectors still in place.
Insp Greaves said: “The dog at the front (Athena) was brighter in herself but that’s probably because we had been able to get food and water to her but the other two dogs, because I know the breed, we would expect them to be alert and guarding the site but they weren’t.”
Insp Greaves said she could see Athena’s ribs quite clearly, indicating she was malnourished, and added that she thought the dogs had suffered a ‘prolonged period of neglect’.
Fellow RSPCA inspector Jenny Ronksley said she visited the site on Saturday, January 20 and Sunday, January 21 and left business cards at the site requesting the owners contact her, which they didn’t.
Dr Jenny Turner, a veterinary surgeon at Springfield Vets, also attended the site and said that the housing and nutritional supplies for the dogs were unsuitable.
Prosecutor Philip Brown said: “She believed that the period of suffering would been for at least four to six weeks but probably longer. They had suffered either a variable shortage of food over several weeks or starved entirely for a period of days.”
The prosecutor also told the court that Koda had developed ‘behavioural difficulties’ and that a vet had decided it was in the dog’s best interests to carry out euthanasia.
Sentencing:
Appleyard – 150 hours of unpaid work. Banned from keeping any animal for five years (expired September 2023). Deprivation order for the two surviving dogs, Athena and Sasha.
Harwood – 120 hours of unpaid work. No ban.