James Wallace Tree pleads not guilty to dog fighting, and Cindy Lee Tree plead not guilty to animal negligence

A mother charged with animal negligence claimed she got the information about tethering her American Pit Bull Terriers from the RSPCA website.

A Sarina Range mother charged with animal negligence claimed she got the information about tethering her American Pit Bull Terriers from the RSPCA website.

Cindy Lee Tree has pleaded not guilty to five offences related to animal welfare breaches, four of which were linked to the heavy chains used to tether the family’s four dogs.

Cindy Lee Tree has pleaded not guilty animal negligence charges.

Mackay Magistrates Court heard the other animal welfare breach was related to the non-treatment of a broken tooth on one of the American Pit Bull Terriers.

Mrs Tree told the court she had told the RSPCA inspector who went to her Sarina Range property in 2020 that she had researched appropriate tethering from information on the organisation’s website.

The court heard the website stated it was allowable as long as the dogs were off the tethers for at least two hours per day – both Mrs Tree and her husband James Wallace Tree, who is facing the same charges, said the dogs were exercised and enriched off the tethers at least twice a day.

The couple has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

The court heard the chains used to tether the dogs could hold 4.5 tonnes – Mr Tree told the court this was because they were strong dogs and lighter chains could wear down and he did not want to risk the possibility of any getting free.

Mr Tree is also charged with three counts of supplying dogs to dog fighting events over three of his animals – Shaka, Rosie and Cletus.

The fourth – Pyro – is the offspring of Rosie and Shaka. The court heard Shaka was bred down from an internationally renowned dog fighting lineage known as Redboy.

The court heard the couple had been given a direction regarding the tethering of their dogs and they had been complying – they had purchased two cages – when the RSPCA raided their Lawrie Rd property in September 2020, seizing all four animals.

James Wallace Tree and Cindy Lee Tree with Macrossan and Amiet solicitor Brigid Paterson. Picture: Lillian Watkins

Ultimately the four dogs were euthanised over claims they were too aggressive to rehome.

The court heard Shaka had a broken tooth as a result of an incident with “a bull”.

Mrs Tree said her husband had taken the dog to a vet to have his nails clipped and as a result the broken tooth was mentioned.

Mrs Tree said she did not go into the appointment with Mr Tree but said they had been told to monitor the tooth.

She told the court she did not notice the broken tooth herself, despite the fact she was heavily involved with feeding and exercising Shaka.

Mrs Tree said Shaka did not appear to be in distress or favouring one side and would still eat a bone.

“He was fine eating, he was fine chewing,” Mrs Tree said.

She also gave evidence about witnessing fights between some of the dogs.

The court heard allegations injuries on Shaka, Cletus and Rosie matched injuries received at dog fighting events.

Mrs Tree gave evidence about a number of clashes she witnessed between Shaka and Rosie and gave specific detail about injury locations she had noticed.

Mrs Tree denied her husband was involved in dog fighting events.

The case, under Magistrate Bronwyn Hartigan, has been adjourned to a later date for findings.

Father bought American Pit Bull Terrier from man convicted of dog fighting

A Sarina Range father accused of supplying animals for dog fighting purchased one of his four American Pit Bull Terriers from a man later convicted of the same charge.

James Wallace Tree told Mackay Magistrates Court at the time he bought Shaka, which was about eight years before the RSPCA seized him in 2020, he had not known that man – Glen Wilson – was involved in dog fighting.

Mr Tree, 46, said he became aware when Wilson was charged “in about 2017 or 2018”.

Mr Tree has pleaded not guilty to supplying dogs for a prohibited event.

Both he and his wife Cindy Lee Tree, 42, have pleaded not guilty to failing to give their four dogs appropriate living conditions and failing to provide treatment for injury.

Mr Tree gave evidence for more than four hours today about his four dogs – Shaka, Rosie, Pyro and Cletus – that were seized during an RSPCA raid at their Lawrie Rd property in September 2020.

Cindy Lee and James Wallace Tree leave Mackay courthouse.

All four dogs were ultimately euthanised because it was alleged they were too aggressive to be rehomed.

The court heard American Pit Bull Terriers were the preferred breed for dog fighting and that Shaka had been bred from an internationally recognised bloodline used in “game dogs” known as Redboy.

The court heard a “pedigree” certificate for Shaka had been posted online but Mr Tree denied having anything to do with its creation.

The court heard Mr Tree had bought Shaka from Wilson, and had obtained Rosie from his brother – Pyro was their offspring.

Mr Tree said he had gotten Cletus about six months before he was seized.

Before the dogs were seized the Trees received a visit from the Mackay district’s RSPCA inspector over a negligence complaint and she arrived noting all four dogs were tethered with heavy chains.

It is also alleged these chains were used in dog fighting circles.

The court heard the couple initially lied to the RSPCA inspector about the dogs’ breeds and their names.

It was suggested Mr Tree did this to prevent himself from being picked up for dog fighting.

He denied this and said he was mistrustful of the organisation and did not want his dogs seized because of their breed.

Mr Tree said his dogs were family pets, and used as working and pigging dogs – and that items also seized from the property were actually used for exercise and their enrichment.

The court heard items included a flirt pole, treadmill and break sticks.

Mr Tree said he exercised his dogs separately and the treadmill was useful, especially when he was on his week on stint as a mine driller at Moranbah and only his wife was home with their kids.

He said he had used the break sticks when his dogs occasionally became involved in “yard accidents” and needed to separate them.

Mr Tree also said he used the heavy chains only because of the strength of the dogs to stop them from wearing out a lighter chain and getting loose and potentially coming in contact with a neighbour’s dog or cattle.

A number of books were also seized which the RSPCA alleged inferred an interest in dog fighting.

Mr Tree said he had been gifted many of the books, which he said contained a lot of health and nourishment information he found useful because he “liked turning out good dogs”.

Evidence was previously heard that scarring on three of the four animals was indicative of dog fighting, but Mr Tree said it was from pig hunting and “yard accidents”, which was when two dogs unintentionally ended up in a clash.

Mr Tree denied any involvement in dog fighting.

The court heard because it was a circumstantial case there could only be one inference to reach a guilty verdict and if there was any other inference it had to be a not guilty finding.