Drifter Jesper, who has links to Plymouth, Chester, York and Bangor in Wales, pleaded guilty to causing unnecessary suffering to the unnamed dog by slapping him or her several times.
Jesper was sentenced on March 5 2021
Jesper was ordered to pay a fine of £40, a surcharge of £95 and costs of £85. He was barred from keeping a dog for a period of two years (expires March 2023).
Taxi driver Clark pleaded guilty to six offences relating to a failure to care for the animals under the Animal Health Act, 2006.
The offences related to a failure to care for the pigs, poultry and llama, that were kept at Trevarth Farm allotments in Lanner, Redruth, Cornwall.
Over the course of three visits made by Cornwall Council’s Animal Health officers and an Animal Plant and Health Agency vet, the enclosure for the pigs was found to be continually waterlogged, with mud coming up to the animals’ bellies.
The only water available for them to drink was dirty and muddy and they had access to hazardous objects such as nails and sharp edges.
A llama at the site had no shelter from the elements and there were sharp objects including nails and sharp projections found in its enclosure.
The poultry was not provided with clean dry litter and also did not have access to fresh water.
Despite the extensive advice he was given over the course of the visits, Clark made only minor improvements to the unacceptable conditions in which the animals were kept. All requests to remove the sharp objects and to provide dry lying areas and fresh water were ignored.
Sentencing: total of £792 in fines and surcharge. Banned for five years from keeping farm animals, including llamas (expires September 2025).
Hamilton, who formerly worked as a horse transporter, failed to supply food to the horse called Norma over a three-month period between January and April 2018 despite warnings from concerned neighbours
Sentencing Hamilton, Justice Diana Baker said: “Norma was in your care and for such a long period of time was not properly looked after. She did not receive food and this caused real suffering and leaving her close to death.
“Because of this she lived with pain and discomfort for months and the vet said they found her curled up. So worried were vets they seized the horse straight away.
“You didn’t listen to neighbours who you may have thought were interfering. Even though they told you their concerns you didn’t do anything and they had to go out of their way to provide Norma with food.
“You say you were very busy at work. This is not an excuse. If you have a horse you have a responsibility. You said you had a lack of expenses. This is not an excuse. If you can’t afford to you don’t keep horses. They require food, veterinary care etc.”
Sentence: two-year community order with 240 hours of unpaid work; £385 costs. Banned from keeping equines for just three years (expired August 2021)
Crocker and Long were given suspended sentences after admitting causing unnecessary suffering to a protected animal.
The RSPCA conducted an investigation after video footage was posted on Facebook which depicted dogs being set upon a fox.
Crocker also admitted using a bow to kill a wild animal at an earlier hearing.
The video footage showed the two men in a barn with dogs, Lady and Princess, who can be seen attacking the fox as laughter is heard in the background.
RSPCA chief inspector Ian Briggs said: “The footage clearly shows these two men watching as the fox was subjected to what would have been a painful and drawn out death.
“Far from deal with the situation responsibly and humanely, instead they filmed the incident and could be heard laughing as the fox was being attacked.
“We hope this case being brought before the court will encourage others to report any concerns they have about animal welfare to report them to the police or RSPCA.”
Crocker had previously pleaded guilty to shooting a wild rabbit with a bow. This also only came to light when the RSPCA became aware of a photo on Facebook.
Sentencing:
Both Crocker and Long were sentenced to six weeks in prison, suspended for a year, and fined £425 and ordered to pay a £115 victim surcharge.
Crocker was also given an additional two-week suspended prison sentence to run consecutively for using a crossbow to kill an animal.
Neither of the two men were banned from keeping animals but voluntarily signed over both Lady and Princess into the care of the RSPCA.
Crocker and Robbie Long had appeared alongside Mikayla Long, born 26/10/1992, also of Lower Tolgullow Vean Farm, Redruth. She pleaded not guilty to two counts of causing unnecessary suffering to border terriers between September 9 and 23, 2016. She denied three further charges, spanning the same dates, of causing unnecessary suffering to several border terrier puppies and a black and white terrier.
Details of the charges are that she failed to provide sufficient nutrition, address an internal parasitic burden or address an animal’s poor bodily condition and a mammary mass in regards the animals.
The outcome of the case against her isn’t known.
Barry John Rowe, also of Lower Tolgullow Vean Farm, Little Beside, St Day, Redruth TR15PX, also appeared and denied one charge of causing unnecessary suffering to a protected animal.
Rowe, who operates a refuse clearance business named B J Rowe Rubbish Removals and has an alternative address of The Caravan, Lower Tregullow, Redruth TR16 5PD, was alleged to have failed to investigate and address a black and white terrier bitch’s poor bodily condition and a mammary mass between September 9 and 23, 2016. The outcome of his case was not reported.
In April 2021 Rowe was banned from keeping dogs and ordered to pay thousands of pounds in costs after being caught breeding dogs illegally. The prosecution was brought by Cornwall Council’s Licensing team.
On Tuesday, April 20, 2021 at Bodmin Magistrates’ Court, Rowe was found guilty of operating a commercial dog breeding operation without a licence.
He was also found guilty of serious animal welfare offences, including causing unnecessary suffering and failing to provide a duty of care to the dogs.
Five of Rowe’s dogs, some of which were pregnant, were seized under warrant by the council.
Rowe was ordered to pay £9,336.12 towards the council’s costs and pay a victim surcharge to the court.
Taking into account the seriousness of the offences and a relevant previous conviction, Rowe was sentenced to 18 weeks in prison, suspended for two years.
The District Judge also made a disqualification order preventing Rowe from owning, keeping or participating in the keeping of dogs.
Cowling pleaded guilty to the following animal welfare offences:
Kevin Hill for Cornwall Council, said the offences arose after visits to the farm in July and December of 2015, and January, February and March 2016, after initial complaints that defendant’s cattle were straying on to neighbouring farmland.
Cattle and pigs were found in poor condition. Pigs were being fed from oranges and bananas which are illegal food for them. There was no rail to prevent a sow from crushing her piglets. Conditions for pigs and cattle were wet and muddy. There was dirty drinking water, and no dry lying areas. There were protruding nails and rusty, corrugated metal sheeting in a pig area, with pigs in poor condition and one shivering.
There were more than 30 Dexter cows on the farm which had little grazing and a shelter which was too small to house them all, and bedding wet with faeces.
After she was given advice, Cowling provided better bedding and clean water, but the shelter for the cattle was still too small, cows were standing in thick mud at their feeder, and still in poor condition.
One pig had a leg wound likely to have come from a nail.
Some of the cows had overgrown feet and were struggling to walk properly.
Mr Hill said that after Cowling was given advice on how to put things right, problems were still found on return visits. Things were put right, but then would slip by the next visit. Some could have been addressed relatively easily, but she was either not able to or was unwilling to comply.
He asked the magistrates to disqualify her from keeping farm animals.
Cowling said in court that she and her helpers had had to tackle horrendous wet weather conditions which had led to some of the offences, as straw was getting wet very quickly. She had never lost piglets with a sow as the mothers were very good, and they had been seen daily.
The Dexters were living-out animals, and had lived outside with her all their lives. After advice, their shelter was to be extended this month.
She said she was shocked to hear that the council wanted her to stop keeping her animals.
She said she had followed the advice given to her and had then been given the “all clear” by investigating welfare officers.
“I was very conscious of looking after my animals” she said. “I would not harm anything. I love them all.”
She said she would give her helpers things to do but they did not always do as she would have liked. If she had any problems with her animals she would call her vet.
She said she bred the animals for meat, but there was no profit in it whatsoever. She had reduced the numbers of both pigs and cows as advised.
As well as running her smallholding, she did work at a local college, and gardening.
The farm had belonged to her grandfather and she was born there. “I love it there and I don’t want to lose it” she said.
Cowling asked the magistrates: ”If everything has been put right, why do the council want to disqualify me?”
Answering to the Bench Stephanie Martin, an animal welfare officer, agreed the pigs and cattle were now in good condition, with good bedding and water, but the cattle shed was not.
”I fear that when the bad weather comes again this is all going to happen again” she said.
Sentencing: 12-month community order, with 150 hours of unpaid work; ordered to pay £1,250 costs and £60 victim surcharge. Banned from keeping farm animals (period not specified).
Cowling’s appeal hearing was held at Truro Crown Court on 7 February 2017.
Judge Recorder Midgley found the cattle on the farm still had insufficient dry bedding, with nails and sharp metal still protruding from the pigs housing as recently as 6 February 2017. Cowling had also failed to respond to clear advice.
Consequently Cowling’s appeal was dismissed and she was banned from keeping cattle and pigs for three years (expired February 2020).
Source: Cornish Stuff (article removed).