Conviction In The Act - Neglect

[j]

http://www.canberratimes.com.au/news/local/news/general/dog-owner-fined-2800-for-neglect/2212939.aspx

Dog owner fined $2800 for neglect

BY NATASHA RUDRA

01 Jul, 2011 08:19 AM

A Lyneham man has been convicted of animal neglect after RSPCA inspectors found a starving, fly-bitten Great Dane in his backyard.

Dennis Kevin Lee, 30, was fined $2800 in the ACT Magistrates Court yesterday and banned from owning pets for five years.

He had pleaded guilty to two charges of failing to seek veterinary treatment and failing to feed his dog.

According to the statement of facts, inspectors went to Lee's home in March last year after receiving a call about an ''extremely underweight'' dog.

No one was home but the inspectors saw the Great Dane, named Solly, in the backyard and noted that it was so thin it ''seemed to slope from the spine down''.

The dog was covered in flies, its hip bones and ribs were easily visible, and it had raw, fly-bitten ears.

Solly was dumped at a drop-off kennel the day after the inspectors' visit.

According to the statement, Lee identified the dog as his own but said he had given it away ''months ago''.

Lee said he fed Solly about 3kg of chicken necks every night and had taken the animal to hospital to treat its ears. His girlfriend told inspectors she fed the dog ''heaps'' and had eventually gotten rid of it because she felt it was not friendly towards her children.

An RSPCA vet found the dog was in poor condition, with open, bleeding sores on its ears.

It had long nails, indicating it had been confined or prevented from exercising.

The dog was about 7kg underweight.

Over the next four weeks Solly improved to a healthy 42.6kg and its skin condition disappeared with treatment.

But the dog could not be ''re-homed'' because its behaviour deteriorated and it was eventually put down.

Lee had been granted bail on condition that he contact the RSPCA and Domestic Animal Service to carry out volunteer work.

But he told the court he had not been able to get information from either service because of work pressures.

Magistrate Lorraine Walker fined Lee a total of $2800 and placed him on a good-behaviour order for two years.

She banned him from owning or buying pets for the next five years and ordered him to surrender any animals he owned to the RSPCA within seven days.

[Maddy]

As obviously terrible as this story is, there's some conclusions being drawn that are, in my opinion, a little silly.

It had long nails, indicating it had been confined or prevented from exercising.

One of my own dogs (Kiff, my oldest dog and the reason I rescue) has velociraptor claws and it's not from being kept confined or unexercised. Kiff prefers to spend 90% of his day upside-down on his bed and unfortunately, the fresh air through his toes isn't all that good at wearing down claws. Long claws do not necessarily mean a neglected dog.

failing to seek veterinary treatment

Weight issues aside, I assume this was in relation to the fly strike? If that's the case, I'm a monster too because I don't take my dogs to the vet when they get bitten by flies (mostly because they don't need to go to a vet for that), their ears are cleaned, a drop of Advocate is put on the base of the ear and finally some Flygon rubbed into the fur at the tips to keep the flies away.

But the dog could not be ''re-homed'' because its behaviour deteriorated and it was eventually put down.

Surprise :rolleyes: