SA court convicts puppy breeder Kerrie Maree Fitzpatrick of animal cruelty over appalling mistreatment of 300 dogs

Hundreds of dogs and puppies have been left in horrific conditions on an SA breeding farm – all because of a loophole in Australia’s animal laws.

Kerrie Fitzpatrick hides her face outside the Adelaide Magistrates Court during her trial. Picture: Lucy Rutherford

Kerrie Maree Fitzpatrick was not a puppy breeder – she was a battery farmer who wired dogs into cramped, foul cages, leaving them to develop traumatic psychological issues.

But her appalling “farm”, at Parrakie in the Murray Mallee, was not her first foray into animal cruelty, and the 300 dogs that suffered there were far from her first victims.

On Friday, the Adelaide Magistrates Court heard Fitzpatrick had multiple prior convictions in Victoria, totalling $85,000 in fines and a 20-year ban on working as a breeder.

Fitzpatrick donned a heavy disguise for each day of her trial. Picture: Lucy Rutherford

Dr Peter Salu, for the RSPCA, told the court those convictions meant little, however, because Australia has yet to adopt a consistent national approach to the abuse of animals.

“It appears there is no cross-vesting of offences relating to animals in Australia, nor across each of the states,” he said.

“As a consequence, Fitzpatrick simply packed up shop in Victoria and moved to South Australia.”

On Friday, following a trial, the court found Fitzpatrick guilty of 16 animal cruelty offences arising from a 2018-19 RSPCA investigation.

In his verdict, Magistrate Karim Soetratma said inspectors had found pups in “makeshift mesh wire pens” wired shut atop “a thick sludgy build-up of mud, faeces and urine”.

The animals had “no dry bedding, water” or “things to stimulate and entertain” them, with pups “sitting in empty containers in order to get off the mesh.”

The dogs, he said, were “drooling and trembling”, seemed “quite stressed and anxious” and “displayed compulsive behaviours” and “a five-week-old possibly born with no eyes”.

Mr Soetratma said Fitzpatrick and her partner Colin Ross – who was previously fined more than $8000 for his offending – had failed to take steps to mitigate harm to the dogs.

An animal behavioural expert, he said, had assessed the dogs and found 80 per cent were “frightened or fearful” toward people and “highly reactive” to their peers.

Fitzpatrick’s partner, Colin Ross. Picture: Ben Cameron

He said a golden retriever had been found “sitting in an enclosure, like a statue, fearful of unfamiliar people and suffering stress and anxiety”.

“(The expert) considered it obvious that numerous dogs were suffering anxiety disorders, potential obsessive-compulsive disorders, chronic stress and mental suffering,” he said.

“There were too many dogs at Parrakie to be managed by Fitzpatrick, Ross and the assistants they had.

“They had too many dogs to give each individual dog the one-on-one attention it needed.

“They simply had too many dogs, and they had failed to provide them all with acceptable living standards by that day.”

The court will hear sentencing submissions next month.