A Nottingham woman who kept dogs in ‘prison cells’ which caused five to be put to sleep has been banned from keeping dogs for life.
Margaret Greaves, 64, from Newbound Lane in Sutton-in-Ashfield, pleaded guilty to a number of animal welfare offences including failing to meet their needs and causing unnecessary suffering by not providing vet treatment at Mansfield Magistrates’ Court today (Tuesday June 20).
As well as the lifetime disqualification order on keeping dogs, Greaves was also given a 12 week prison sentence suspended for a year.
She was also given a three-year ban on all animals and was ordered to pay £500 in costs and a £115 victim surcharge.
Five of the dogs were put to sleep on vet advice due to health issues and one of the puppies removed from the property later died of natural causes.
RSPCA inspector Laura Kirkham said: “They were living in their own little prison cells – it was absolutely horrific and not something you expect to see in this day and age.
“There was faeces and urine in the crates and, in some, there were two dogs in each.
“The smell was disgusting – it was so overpowering that it was burning my throat.
“We got the police and a vet out, who was not happy with the conditions of the animals and was very worried about one dog in particular who seemed very lethargic and depressed.”
The dogs were spread across the property inside the house, an outhouse and in a transit van and a run outside.
Inspector Kirkham said: “There were seven dogs living in this van, all in crates – six in the back and one in the front.
“What is even sadder is that they were spending an extremely long time in these crates and there was nothing in these crates to stimulate them either, and the smell was strong and the air stuffy – it was just absolutely horrific.
“The squalor in the outhouse was particularly appalling; it had crates stacked on top of one another and it was dark.
“At first we couldn’t see one of the dogs in the crate at the bottom because it was so dark.
“The crates were filled with faeces and urine, which meant the dogs were also covered in faeces – it was so bad on one dog that he had dreadlocks of faecal clumps hanging of his coat.”
In total, there were 30 adult dogs, six puppies, two cats and two parrots in which the two cats were kept in squalid conditions in a run in the garden; the two parrots inside the home were also kept in poor conditions.
The remaining animals are either in RSPCA care or have been rehomed.
The court heard that Greaves ran a Nottinghamshire-based dog flyball team and has competed in national and international competitions in the past.
Inspector Kirkham said: “There were so many animals that it would have been impossible to have coped with them all.”
