A man from Swansea who neglected two Jack Russell terriers has been banned from keeping animals for 15 years and handed a suspended prison sentence after a prosecution by the RSPCA.
William Johns, (D.O.B 22/1/1958), of Lime Court, Swansea, pleaded guilty to two offences under the Animal Welfare Act 2006 and appeared for sentencing at Swansea Magistrates’ Court. As well as the disqualification Johns received an eight-month custodial sentence which was suspended for two years.
The RSPCA found the terriers called Cai and Lily (pictured above) to be grossly overweight at Johns’ home in Swansea. Cai was suffering from heart failure and was so poorly that a vet decided the kindest course of action was to put him to sleep. Lily was taken into the care of the charity on a later visit.
The court was told that RSPCA Animal Rescue Officer (ARO) Ethan Griffin visited the defendant’s home on September 24 last year when he saw Cai (pictured) who was in a collapsed state and had urine stains over his body. Johns agreed to allow the officer to take the dog to a vets.
On a follow-up visit the defendant was advised to take the other Jack Russell, Lily, to a vets to be weighed and placed on a diet, but he refused to cooperate with the charity’s officers.
RSPCA Inspector Gemma Cooper attended at Johns’ home with officers from South Wales Police on December 14 when Lily was seized. In a statement presented to the court the inspector admitted she was shocked by how large Lily was.
“When I went to take her from the police officer it was difficult to hold her like a normal dog as her torso was just so rounded and solid. In my fifteen years as an RSPCA Inspector I have never seen a dog so overweight,” she said.
A vet who examined Cai said the dog was in the end stage of heart failure. He was extremely overweight with a body condition score of nine out of nine (when five is a healthy weight).
Lily also had a body condition score of nine out of nine. A vet who examined her said that she was out of breath most of the time she was at the clinic.
“She weighed 14.2 kgs and the level of obesity was one of the worst I have seen,” he stated. “She had difficulty moving around and by keeping a dog in this abnormal state the owner failed in their duty of care to provide a suitable diet and control their pet’s weight. The dog suffered for a prolonged period of at least a month if not longer.”
Lily was put on a suitable diet and in the first month in the care of the RSPCA she lost more than 2kg in weight as she went on to make a good recovery. She (pictured recently) will now be rehomed by the charity.
In mitigation, the court was told the defendant was unable to care for the dogs because of a range of health issues, including suffering from Parkinson’s and reduced mobility after having had a leg amputated. He had later agreed to sign Lily over into the care of the RSPCA.
Johns was also told to pay £400 court costs and a victim surcharge of £187 at the hearing on June 22.
Speaking after the sentencing, RSPCA Inspector Gemma Cooper said: “These poor dogs were allowed to balloon in weight by the defendant’s inability to provide a balanced diet for them. One of them became so ill that he had to be put to sleep and had we not returned to the property, the second dog may also have become seriously unwell.”
