Dog fighting: Jared Nathan Trenear jailed over animal cruelty

A Brisbane Magistrate has jailed a man after he cruelly forced dogs to fight, deprived them of water and chained them up for weeks. WARNING: Graphic images

A BRISBANE Magistrate has jailed a man after he cruelly forced dogs to fight, deprived them of water and chained them up for weeks.

Magistrate Linda Bradford-Morgan this morning sentenced father-of-three, Jared Nathan Trenear, 35, to six months behind bars after he pleaded guilty to a raft of charges, including dog fighting and depriving dogs of basic means of survival in one of the state’s first prosecutions of its kind.

Solicitor Tracey Jackson, Prosecutions and Privacy Officer for the RSPCA, said the community would not stand for the practice.

“We’ve got a taskforce in place and the experts needed to establish these sorts of charges,” she said.

“It shouldn’t come as any surprise to anybody that the community see this as a completely repugnant act … and people are kidding themselves if they think in any way, shape or form that the dogs enjoy living like this or enjoy fighting.”

The charges came after adult dogs and two litters of puppies, aged nine-weeks and four-months, were seized from Trenear’s Mt Cotton property by the RSPCA in April last year.

Dogs were tethered within sight of each other, heightening aggression.

RSPCA prosecutor Adrian Braithwaite told the court the dogs were found restrained with a wire tether, not provided with suitable bedding and did not have access to clean water.

“There were faeces located at the furthest points accessible from the tether and (dogs) had rub marks and hair loss around (their) neck under the thick webbed collar…” Mr Braithwaite said.

“The photographs speak for themselves as to what kind of pain and suffering this creates.”

Officers also found fighting memorabilia, 100 needles, pain medication and antibiotics, as well as two breeding stands at the property during the raid.

Jared Nathan Trenear, was jailed for six months after he pleaded guilty to a raft of charges, including dog fighting and depriving dogs of basic means of survival.

Injured animals were left untreated.

The court heard the breeding stands are commonly referred to as “rape stands” and used to mate dogs that show aggressive tendencies.

Trenear, who now lives in Maroochydore, initially denied claims he was a dog fighter, telling RSPCA officers he used the American Staffordshire and Pit Bull Terrier dogs for pig hunting.

But today pleaded guilty to eight counts of dog fighting, one count of failing to treat illness or disease, one count of failing to provide water, one count of inappropriate living conditions and one count of permitting an animal to injure another animal.

Daniel Young, who was involved in the case for the RSPCA, said the raid on the Mt Cotton property was part of a much bigger operation.

“This is one of the matters that resulted in relation to a large-scale operation targeting organized dog fighting,” he said.

“Clearly today is a good example that it does exist here in Queensland and people need to be vigilant. It is underground but it is happening…”

Jared Nathan Trenear pleaded guilty to eight counts of dog fighting, one count of failing to treat illness or disease, one count of failing to provide water, one count of inappropriate living conditions and one count of permitting an animal to injure another animal.

Mr Young said Trenear’s set-up was consistent with other organised dog fighting properties.

“(Dogs were) tethered on heavy chains away from each other, so they could still see each other but they couldn’t physically get to one another, and so that increases that drive to want to fight,” he said.

“The chains are often very heavy chains… it’s just a really horrible way for a dog to live, on a heavy chain, chained up in the dirt and then released to fight. It’s not a nice way for any animal to live.”

The court heard the breeding stands are commonly referred to as “rape stands” and used to mate dogs that show aggressive tendencies.

Trenear was ordered to pay $6388.50 to the RSPCA for medical costs associated with his dogs and received a life ban from owning dogs or poultry.

He will be released on parole on July 31, after about four weeks actual jail time has been served.