CONVICTED (2023) | Welsh farmer Philip Edmund Smith, Cefn Ynysoedd, Llanfaglan, Caernarfon LL54 5RA – for multiple animal welfare offences leading to 32 sheep being euthanised.
Philip Smith, who was convicted of similar offences in 2013, pleaded guilty to animal welfare breaches and for failure to dispose of sheep remains.
Smith subjected animals to unnecessary suffering and failed to take the appropriate and reasonable steps to secure the needs of the flock. This included the need for animals to be protected from pain, suffering, injury and disease.
The court heard that of the 150 sheep seen by officials on his farm, approximately 75% were found to be severely lame and unable to bear weight on at least one limb. Tragically, 32 had to be euthanised due to the severity of their lameness.
An album of photographs capturing the shocking conditions and unnecessary suffering of the animals was shown to the court.
Officials were horrified by the condition in which animals were found. It was their opinion that the sheep were experiencing unnecessary pain and suffering; and the defendant should have sought veterinary assistance much earlier.
Animal health officers from Gwynedd’s Trading Standards Service and the Animal & Plant Health Agency (APHA) veterinary team visited the farm several times during July and August 2021 following an anonymous tip-off by a concerned member of the public reporting lame sheep on land at Cefn Ynysoedd.
During the investigation officers from Gwynedd Council’s Trading Standards Service were subjected to threatening and abusive behaviour by Smith.
During the initial inspection a collapsed ram was discovered in one farm building. He was severely lame with foot-rot, had severe chronic skin lesions and inflammation of the larynx that would have caused a degree of difficulty breathing. It was the veterinary officer’s opinion that the ram was suffering unnecessarily and needed to be euthanised to prevent any further suffering.
A post-mortem examination carried out on the ram indicated that the skin lesions were likely to have been present for several months and concluded that there was no evidence of paring of the feet to remove the overgrown horn.
Several other sheep were found to be suffering with irreversible foot lesions caused by conditions that may have been treatable had they been identified and treated sooner. Several of the sheep were also suffering from fly strike and had live maggots in their feet.
Sentencing | concurrent suspended prison terms of 26 weeks for the six section 4 Animal Welfare Act offences and 12 weeks for the two section 9 Animal Welfare offences. 20-hour rehabilitation course. Fined £400 for the six Animal By-Product Regulation offences and ordered to pay £4,475 in costs and a victim surcharge of £128. Disqualified from owning, keeping, transporting or dealing in farmed animals for five years (expires June 2028).
Should be no second chances