A Swansea woman has been disqualified from keeping animals for life after her Dalmatian dog was found to be in an emaciated condition.
Kimberley Richards-Miller of Bonymaen Road, Swansea, pleaded guilty to one offence under the Animal Welfare Act in that she caused unnecessary suffering to a Dalmatian dog called Darcy, by failing to investigate and address the causes of her poor body condition.
The RSPCA had been called to investigate after the emaciated body of Darcy was presented to a vets on November 14 last year.
Investigating officer, RSPCA Inspector Keith Hogben told the court that Darcy’s body was in an emaciated condition and with a body score of one out of nine (with a healthy score being 4 or 5).
In a written statement, provided to the court, he said: “I asked if the vet felt that the dog had caused unnecessary suffering and she agreed.
“I was also told that the owner of the dog had been advised several times to bring the dog to the vets in the weeks prior to it dying.”
He added that the body was seized by police and handed the body into the care of the RSPCA where a post mortem was carried out.
In a statement from a vet, who analysed the post mortem results and pictures of Darcy, he said the one-year-old weighed just 7.1 kilograms.
He said: “The report states the body was in very poor body condition with severe loss of fat and muscle tissue throughout the body, no real gut contents and a specific type of ulceration in the stomach (Wischinewsky spots) that are caused by severe stresses to the body and hypothermia (either from the environment or because the body is so run down it cannot maintain body temperature), they are often present in cases of starvation.
“The pattern of changes shown with the absence of underlying health issues are most likely due to a long standing energy (food) deficit as expected in cases where the animal has starved to death.
“It is difficult to be exact with the length of time that total starvation would take a one-year-old dog to reach 7.1 kilos, as for an adult to drop from a normal weight of 20 kilos to 7.1 kilos would take about five months of water only, longer if some food was provided in that time.
“However reduced food or starvation in a growing dog would stunt their growth, but would still likely take a number of months to reach that body condition, suffering for the whole time.
“The owner of this dog has failed in their duty of care to provide the basic need of the necessary amount of food to an animal in their care, starving them to death and directly causing the unnecessary suffering detailed above.”
The vet added in a second written statement that “further examinations have found no underlying cause or illness for the weight loss in the body, indicating further that the cause of the weight loss will have been a failure to provide sufficient food”.
As well as a lifetime disqualification order banning her from keeping all animals, Richards-Miller was also handed 12 months custody which was suspended for 18 months, given 25 Rehabilitation Activity Requirement days and 150 hours unpaid work. She was also ordered to pay £400 costs with a £187 surcharge on Wednesday 29 July when she was sentenced at Swansea Magistrates’ Court.
In mitigation it was heard that the owner was genuinely remorseful.
Following sentencing, Inspector Hogben said: “It is heartbreaking to imagine what Darcy may have gone through.
“All animals deserve to be treated with kindness and should have their needs met. Anyone who is struggling should seek help.”
