Allan Traeger and Desmond Murray Traeger convicted over ill treatment of animals

Two farming brothers have been convicted after malnourished livestock and about 50 dead cattle were found across three Mid North properties. Warning: Graphic content

Two farming brothers in the state’s Mid North have been convicted over an animal cruelty case stretching back over a decade.

Allan Traeger, 71, and Desmond Murray Traeger, 67, were charged with ill treatment of animals and prohibited from owning animals other than cats, dogs and fowl.

They were ordered in the Elizabeth Magistrates Court to pay $6600 in legal fees and were placed on a two-year good behaviour bond of $500.

Since 2012 the RSPCA has responded to nine reports from the public over the welfare of livestock across three properties owned by the brothers.

The RSPCA most recently responded to a welfare concern in 2018, after receiving a tip-off from a member of the public about “10 deceased cattle in a barren paddock”.

RSPCA SA inspectors were also alerted to reports of about 20 cattle which were alive but “severely emaciated”, which had reportedly broken down fences in their search for food.

Emaciated cattle on one of the Mid North properties. Picture: RSPCA

SAPOL and PIRSA were also called to the properties over concerns from RSPCA for their inspector’s personal safety and the sheer volume of livestock on the property.

All surviving animals were seized from the brothers, who had cattle dispersed over the three properties.

About 50 dead cattle were found, with a PIRSA livestock vet who attended assessing that most surviving cattle being at “serious risk of imminent death”, the RSPCA reported.

Several animals, including a dehydrated bull and emaciated sheep, were euthanised on-site under instructions from the attending vet.

In total 11 sheep and 67 cattle were removed from the properties, and an additional four firearms were confiscated.

An emaciated sheep was with “severely overgrown” fleece was humanely euthanised on site. Picture: RSPCA

The Traeger brothers previously pleaded guilty in the Tanunda Magistrates Court in 2005 to ill treatment of animals in a matter relating to pigs they owned, for which they were convicted and placed on a 12-month good behaviour bond.

RSPCA SA’s head of animal welfare Andrea Lewis said the defendants had shown time and again that they were “incapable or unwilling to provide adequate care to their farm animals”.

“There has been a total absence of basic animal husbandry activities by these two farmers,” Inspector Lewis said.

Many of the cattle on the property were severely malnourished. Picture: RSPCA

“Aside from insufficient supplies of food and water, they failed to do routine care such as parasite treatment and herd management.

“This resulted not only in the physical deterioration of these animals, some to the point of death, but also indiscriminate mating of bulls with heifers that were not physically mature, with several heifers dying while calving.

“The death and suffering that we all witnessed on their properties when we seized surviving animals was simply horrific.”