‘Strong odour of necrotic tissue’: WA man cops massive fine for backyard goat castration

A man has copped a massive fine after trying to castrate his goat, causing it to ‘suffer in immense pain for several days’.

Warning: Graphic content

A man who sawed off a baby goat’s horns and used cable ties to castrate it has been slapped with a $4000 fine for acts of animal cruelty.

The castration left the animal “suffering in immense pain for several days”, according to those who discovered him at the property in Cloverdale, in Perth’s east, in January.

A RSPCA WA inspector visited the property to conduct a welfare check on a goat named Franklin after receiving a cruelty report.

Inspectors found the goat’s scrotum had a black cable tie around it, and his horns appeared to have recently been cut very short, Perth Magistrates Court heard.

According to inspectors, the 45-year-old offender informed them he had placed the cable tie around the goat’s scrotum to castrate him after researching the method online.

They successfully argued that he had not consulted a vet at all.

Franklin’s testicles were white, swollen and cold to the touch, RSPCA WA argued in court.

A man has copped a massive fine after trying to castrate his goat. Picture: RSPCAWA

Franklin the goat was also dehorned to the point it ‘exposed soft tissue’. Picture: RSPCAWA

It was further argued there was “pus-type discharge” around the cable tie and dried blood and fluid down Franklin’s leg.

In addition to the backyard castration attempt, Franklin was dehorned using a saw, receiving only a homemade aspirin paste on the subsequent sores.

“The inspector seized Franklin and transported him to the Animal Care Centre in Malaga where vets immediately noted a strong odour of necrotic tissue,” RSPCAWA said in a statement on Monday.

“He was suffering severe pain from the castration attempt and subsequent necrosis.

“He was also suffering from his horns being cut off too short, which exposed soft tissue and caused bleeding.”

Franklin’s testicles were eventually removed in surgery to avoid potential septicaemia, which had indeed eventually infected the animal’s scrotum and face.

RSPCA WA Inspector Manager Kylie Green said the offender’s decision to castrate and dehorn Franklin at home was reprehensible.

Franklin the goat in the care of the RSPCAWA. Picture: RSPCAWA

“It is heartbreaking to think of Franklin suffering in immense pain for several days – I cannot understand how the offender thought this was an acceptable way to treat a goat,” she said.

“Thankfully a member of the community made a cruelty report about this situation; otherwise, the outcome for Franklin could have been a lot more dire.”

The man was fined $4000, ordered to pay more than $3000 in legal and care costs to RSPCA WA, and forced to forfeit Franklin.

The maximum penalty for a charge of animal cruelty is a $50,000 fine and five years in prison.

The man was also banned from owning a goat for two years.