CONVICTED (2021) | Paul Green, born c. 1973, and wife Donna Green, age unknown, of Ballymacash Road, Lisburn – banned from keeping animals after six dogs they were looking after were found covered in excrement and urine.
The Greens admitted a joint charge of failing to take reasonable steps to ensure the needs of five little Shih Tzu/Lhasa Apso type dogs and one nursing Lhasa Apso dog on October 24, 2019.
The pair said they were asked to mind the dogs by a female friend while she was on holiday.
Paul Green admitted causing unnecessary suffering to the dogs while his wife Donna admitted permitting them to be caused unnecessary suffering at a property on the Lany Road in Moira.
The court heard that when inspectors called at the property, the dogs were being kept in cages, stacked on top of each other in a barn which was “pungent” with the smell of urine.
A prosecutor described how all of the dogs’ coats were soaked in faeces and urine with a multitude of infected paws and none of them had access to water.
The lawyer said while the dogs were not overly thin, the conditions they were being kept in was not acceptable.
Guilt
The couple’s lawyers revealed that while their clients accepted their guilt because they were in charge of the dogs at the time of the inspection, the pets actually belonged to a friend who had asked the pair to look after them while she went in holiday for six days.
Paul Green’s lawyer conceded his client “didn’t take enough care in washing the dogs” but said he felt “slightly aggrieved” that the owner wasn’t prosecuted as well “because the system of care was clearly her responsibility.”
Those sentiments were echoed by Donna Green’s lawyer who said the reason the owner wasn’t prosecuted “may be due to the fact that the Greens were responsible for that period of time.”
The lawyers submitted that while the councils were seeking costs awarded against the couple amounting to £3,239, they were unemployed and in receipt of universal credit.
District Judge Rosie Watters said that from looking at the photographs and statements, “it’s more than just a few days of neglect and I can’t help but wonder if it’s more than five days’ worth.”
Sentencing: two-year conditional discharge; ordered to pay costs of £1,500. Banned from keeping animals for five years.
Just goes to show. You Cannot just go on Holidays without the proper provisions put in place for proper Care, such as A Registered Pet Sitter for instance, or A Licenced Boarding Kennel. You Cannot just leave them with anyone, and just hope they are able to look after them.