Woman Fined $5000 For Her Dog Having Fleas.

[Steve]

Women fined $5,000 for neglecting dog

By Russell Varley

Posted Thu Sep 9, 2010 7:32am AEST

MAP: Tallebudgera 4228

A Gold Coast woman has been fined $5,000 for breaching her duty of care to a kelpie dog under animal protection laws.

Helen Susan King, 46, of Tallebudgera, pleaded guilty to breaching her duty of care under animal protection laws.

The court was told an RSPCA inspector visited the home in October last year and found a black male kelpie infested with fleas.

The dog was suffering severe itching, its teeth were worn down, it had developed thick leathery skin and hair loss from constant scratching.

The court also heard that both the dog's eyes were covered with a thick yellow crust from conjunctivitis.

The court heard the dog was seized and responded to treatment, although it was later euthanised for an unrelated problem.

No conviction was recorded and half the fine will go to the RSPCA.

RSPCA regional inspector Sommer Heath-Crilley says she is happy cases of neglect of animals are being brought before the courts.

She says the dog was in poor condition when it was seized.

"His body, actually the skin was quite thickened and quite rancid in its odour," she said.

"His eyes were completely crusted over and from when we actually removed the dog from the property up until about, I think it was three or four months it took, he actually had rejuvenated the majority of the hair on his entire body."

Ms Heath-Crilley says eduction is vital.

"It's something that we need to continue to bring forth to the community and educate the children when they're quite young that doing these types of things isn't allowed and shouldn't happen," she said.

[Kirislin]

From the description it sounds like it was in pretty poor condition.

[megan_]

The headline is very misleading - it should read "Woman fined for gross neglect"

[Steve]

Would be good to know what it was PTS for.

[poodlefan]

No conviction was recorded and half the fine will go to the RSPCA.

Nice earner

I'm sure most police forces would like the same deal.

Edited September 9, 2010 by poodlefan

[MolassesLass]

Hmm, the report I read said the dog had rotting flesh, not just fleas! That was the print version of the Courier Mail.

Gold Coast mum Helen King subjected pet to eight years of cruelty

A SUCCESSFUL Gold Coast businesswoman who neglected her dog for up to eight years in a ''mean, callous and indecent way'' has been hit with more than $6000 in fines and vet bills.

Mother-of-four Helen Susan King, 46, pleaded guilty in Southport Magistrates Court yesterday to one charge of animal cruelty.

The court was told her pet kelpie Blackie was suffering from ''chronic pain and neglect'' when it was seized by the RSPCA from Ms King's Tallebudgera home last October.

The dog was suffering from dead and rotting flesh, teeth worn to the bone, severe hair loss, leathery ''elephant-like'' skin and puss-covered eyes. It was also underweight.

King, who had two other dogs, told the RSPCA that Blackie was ''just an outside dog'' and that she didn't want to spend money on it.

The cruelty charge related to a period of four days but RSPCA barrister Chris George told the court the dog had been suffering from the skin problem for six to eight years.

The court was told she ran a successful business and travelled extensively overseas.

Mr George said it was a ''reprehensible'' case of ''wilful neglect''.

He said Blackie had since been put down, although there was no evidence this was due to its ill-treatment.

Magistrate Brian Kilmartin said King had shown ''callous disregard'' and ''gross cruelty''.

King, who voluntarily paid more than $1400 in vet and court fees before the court hearing, was fined $5000.

Mr Kilmartin did not record a conviction but ordered half the fine be paid to the RSPCA.

He said the penalty should serve as a lesson to anyone who would neglect their animals in such a ''mean, callous and indecent way''.

Outside court, RSPCA inspector Sommer Heath-Crilley said Blackie had been in an ''appalling'' state when he was rescued and it was one of the most prolonged cases of animal neglect she had seen.

She said the RSPCA was ''a little disappointed'' with the fine, given Mr Kilmartin's scathing findings.

''At the end of the day, there are strong comparisons between cruelty to animals and cruelty to children,'' she said.

Defence solicitor Jason Buckland said King was considering appealing against the severity of the fine.

He said she was ''very happy'' the dog had recovered but ''sad it was put down for other reasons''.

Edited September 10, 2010 by molasseslass

[Souff]

$5000 is a lot more expensive than basic flea protection and a bit of the owners time.

When you have to work with people who just will not get the message that this becomes a lot more than "just fleas" and it is NEGLECT of the animal's health, you really have your days where you want to take the dog away from them. In fact, I have done just that - removed the dog from their "care" until I got the skin to heal and the hair to grow back on the damaged skin. In that case I did manage to get the message through and with constant supervision the dog is still with the owner and the problems are far less. And yes, teeth do become worn down from the constant biting! These are people who should not have dogs but in many cases the law will not stop them from having a dog. Vets and people in the animal care industry know who these people are and do their best for the dog when they can but sometimes it is not enough and the only message is for the person to go down for animal cruelty.

Because that is what it is, it is animal cruelty. It is often more than "just fleas".

Souff

[jazawayaya]

That stupid cow should rot in hell.

And yes that is a very dumb headline- but what do we expect from the bullsh1t 'news'

Edited September 11, 2010 by Troy

[Her Majesty Dogmad]

Glad she was fined, $5000 isn't enough though for all the suffering that poor creature would have endured.

I've just taken my 4th dog in the last 8 months whose flea treatment was non-existent.

2 were completely bald - 1 was almost euthanased because of it!! Both those dogs have now got very full coats of hair.

One was putrid and shaved all over and the latest has no hair on her back/rear end.

Sick to death of morons who can't spend $7 per month to look after their dogs, it's their responsibility. Ask your vet if you don't know, it's not hard.

Apart from anything else - 2 of these dogs had huge wriggly worms when I brought them home, utterly revolting. Again, not hard giving a worm tablet, is it?

Edited September 10, 2010 by dogmad

[Troy]

Some posts have been removed.

Dogz Online does NOT promote the harassment of any individual. Any member using this forum to encourage others to do so will have their membership immediately removed.

[Maddy]

<3 Troy

Post removed

Edited September 11, 2010 by Hardy's Angel