Raymond John Lloyd kept 60+ diseased pets in filth and neglect north of Gympie

There were maggots amongst the animals’ food and many of them had various forms of dental disease, ear infections, skin conditions and conjunctivitis, the court heard.

Raymond John Lloyd, 37, has been ordered to do 100 hours of community service, pay almost $7000 in fines and banned from owning animals for five years after pleading guilty to six charges related to animal neglect in a Gympie court this week.

A Gympie region father of four kept more than 60 animals in filthy, disease-ridden living conditions as an employee in an unregistered pet breeding business which was exposed earlier this year.

The Gympie Magistrates Court heard on Tuesday (August 3) that Raymond John Lloyd, 37, failed to properly care for some 45 cats and kittens and 17 dogs throughout his involvement in the unregistered commercial breeding enterprise, which included selling the pets online through sites such as Gumtree.

Raymond John Lloyd, 37, has been ordered to do 100 hours of community service, pay almost $7000 in fines and banned from owning animals for five years after pleading guilty to six charges related to animal neglect in a Gympie court this week.

The business, in which Lloyd was employed by a co-accused in the matter, housed most of the animals at a Bells Bridge property, while there were also some animals found at a Pine St property in Gympie.

The court heard an RSPCA raid on both properties in May 2021 uncovered the animals living in conditions of squalor, with the lack of cleanliness and ventilation “inappropriate”.

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The housing was found to be dirty and not appropriate for the animals’ behavioural traits, overflowing with faeces and urine and mostly unclean water.

There were maggots amongst the animals’ food and many of them had various forms of dental disease, ear infections, skin conditions and conjunctivitis, the court heard.

Lloyd was issued with an animal wellness direction, but did not comply and all animals were soon seized from both properties.

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Acting for the RSPCA, prosecutor Shauna Smith told the court Lloyd’s involvement went as far as being an employee of his co-accused, and he was not qualified “to look after this number of animals in a way that was appropriate”.

Ms Smith said Lloyd’s offending was aggravated by the fact that it was done at a commercial level “thus warranting a higher penalty to deter other commercial breeders”.

Lloyd’s lawyer Chris Anderson said that while his client had offered his service to his co-accused’s business, he did not stand to profit from any of the sales and viewed his offending as a hobby.

Mr Anderson said Lloyd had no desire to be involved in any similar kind of commercial operation in the future.

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Lloyd pleaded guilty to one charge each of breaching an animal welfare direction and not allowing animals to exhibit normal patterns of behaviour, as well as two each of failing to provide appropriate living conditions and failing to provide proper treatment for various diseases and illnesses.

Magistrate Chris Callaghan noted Lloyd had pleaded guilty to the extent that he was providing assistance to his co-accused, who the court heard was the “primary offender”, while he only benefited from the offending through the use of a motor vehicle.

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Mr Callaghan said Lloyd was not trained for such an enterprise, and there were too many animals to look after given his own capabilities.

Mr Callaghan sentenced Lloyd to 100 hours of community service, fined a total of $6707.20 and banned from owning any animal for five years, unless approved in writing.

A conviction was not recorded.