Starved horses, rancid pet shop, banned breeder and puppy nappy among southeast pet court cases
When a dog wearing a “pungent” urine-soaked human nappy was found wandering Springvale, its owner was told she needed to be taught how to properly toilet-train animals. It’s just one of many court cases involving animals in Melbourne’s southeast.
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A grandpa attacked on a scooter, a putrid pet shop, a horse starver, a banned breeder and even a pungent puppy in a nappy are among animal cases heard in southeast courts.
GRANDPA ATTACKED ON MOBILITY SCOOTER
The owner of a dog that ripped open a grandfather’s hand so badly he had to have skin grafts just walked away after the horrifying attack.
Melanie Elizabeth Kent’s boxer Amy launched at the 69-year-old as he rode his mobility scooter along a Frankston street, snapping its jaws down on his left hand.
He yelled out in pain and shock but she just walked away in the opposite direction.
A video of the incident was posted on social media and the next day she reported herself to the council.
The court heard Amy was a support dog for the mother’s two disabled children.
She was fined $1000 and ordered to pay $699 in council costs. No conviction was recorded.
RSPCA UNHAPPY WITH POOCH NAPPY
The owner of a nappy-wearing dog found wandering Springvale streets in urine-soaked pull-ups was fined and ordered to do a pet course.
Her pomeranian pooch was nabbed by council rangers who found him wearing a “pungent” urine-soaked human nappy and was sore and infected around the back area.
Owner Miu Chui Cheung told the court the six-year-old dog had always had problems with weeing inside her house so she put nappies on him, but he had managed to escape.
The magistrate said she needed to be taught how to properly toilet train animals.
She put Cheung on a 12-month good behaviour bond, ordered to never put nappies on dogs again and told she must do an online pet ownership course.
She was also ordered to contribute $500 to the RSPCA and pay court costs of $412.
LIFE BAN FOR BREEDER
A callous and cruel greyhound breeder was banned and heavily fined after leaving five dogs to die with no food or vet care.
Glenn Barnsley abandoned his Carrum Downs kennels and when asked by his mother who would feed them he said “I don’t know. They will probably die”.
A Greyhound Racing Victoria welfare inspection found one dog had a significant eye disease, another was emaciated while a third had a foot ulcer which had become infected.
All five of the dogs were successfully rehomed.
Barnsley was given a life ban and fined $30,000.
PUTRID PET SHOP
A convicted child sex offender and his wife who ran a dirty, crowded and faeces-filled pet shop were slapped with a combined $40,000 fine and banned from owning animal stores for 10 years.
Passion for Pets director Christopher John Blackwood and his wife Anessa Blackwood kept dogs and cats in overcrowded, damp, smelly and unhygienic cages and sold suspected sick animals.
Some had discharges coming from their noses and eyes, some were tired and lethargic and hot to the touch and others were laying down on wet or diarrhoea-covered bedding.
Anessa Blackwood blamed it on the stress of the public finding out about her husband’s abuse of two young girls.
The Blackwoods sold the Carrum Downs store to new owners in March 2018.
The Leaderis not suggesting the present owner of the business has done anything wrong.
HORSES STARVED
Three horses died after being starved by a self-appointed Somerville horse rescuer and more than a dozen more only survived due to vet intervention.
When the RSPCA inspected Cathryn Kelly’s property they found horses severely underweight with conditions such as lice, rain scald, fungal infections, lameness and wounds.
One of the horses, which couldn’t stand, had to be euthanized immediately with two more having to be put down later.
Another 15 were seized by the RSPCA and have since been properly fed, treated and rehomed.
Kelly’s lawyer said she had tried to do the right thing by rescuing horses from sale yards and abattoirs but accepts “she may have taken on more than she could handle”.
She was given a community corrections order with unpaid work and must pay RSPCA costs of $11,784, and given a conditional 10-year ownership ban.
DOG BITE SCARS BOY FOR LIFE
A three-year-old bitten on the face by a dog at a winery has been left so scarred he cries when he looks at himself in the mirror.
The boy was attacked by the border collie while his family ate lunch at the Carlei Green Vineyards in Beaconsfield Upper.
He was taken to hospital for plastic surgery and had to have a stent inserted to fix damaged tear ducts.
Winery owner Sergio Carlei said he was extremely sorry for what had happened and had put in place measures to make sure it never happened again.
He was fined $5000 and ordered to pay council costs of $2547.
MAN IN FLAP OVER NEIGHBOUR’S CAT TRAP
A cat fan was not feline fine when he found out a neighbour had trapped his moggy mate, jumping the fence and spray-painting vile slurs on his gate.
Shane Law was upset when he discovered his cat had gone missing, and after it was located at a council pound, he found out who the trapper was.
He then jumped the man’s fence, took cat traps from his rear yard and daubed the C-word on his gate, before following up by painting the word “p***k” on his fence.
Everything Law did had been caught on CCTV, and he was arrested.
He told police he was upset the man kept trapping his beloved pet, which had been ill, and took the traps to destroy them to make sure no other cats were caught.
He was given a 12-month good behaviour bond.
ANGRY NEIGHBOUR STABBED DOG
A heartless hound-hater stabbed a defenceless dog in the face three times because it kept barking.
Alan Erskine was frustrated at his neighbour’s pet’s woofing so attacked it while the owner was away.
The 54-year-old Doveton disability pensioner had complained to the council three times before sending an email saying “either you shut that (dog) up or I will”.
Three days later he rang back saying “he had done something terrible”.
The dog owner rushed home to find his beloved pet shivering with blood dripping from three cuts above and below its left eye.
The magistrate said the only reason Erskine was not being jailed was because he was the one who alerted authorities.
He was given an 18-month community corrections order with 250 hours of unpaid work, must pay $3681 in compensation and was banned from owning any animal for three years.
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