NEGLECTFUL dog owners from Coventry have been banned from keeping an animal for ten years after they starved their dog.
Simon Anthony Short, 49, now of Moseley in Birmingham, was also sentenced to an 18 month Community Order with 20 Rehabilitation Activity Requirement days and 100 hours unpaid work, and ordered to pay £350 costs and a Victim Surcharge of £114.
Leanne Louise Wright, 37, now of Sheffield, was also given an 18 month Community Order with 20 Rehabilitation Activity Requirement days, a fine of £180 and was ordered to pay £350 costs and a Victim Surcharge of £114.
The pair were sentenced at Coventry Magistrates Court after pleading guilty to offences contrary to the Animal Welfare Act.
In May 2024, the RSPCA visited the home that the couple shared at the time in Middlesborough Road, Coventry in response to reported concerns about a dog at the property. The officer found a very emaciated Cane-Corso type dog and a puppy in the flat.
RSPCA Inspector Ben Jones said: “They showed me an adult female dog called Sofia who was a dark brindle, Cane Corso-type dog. Sofia’s ribs, spine and pelvis were clearly visible.”
Wright and Short told the Inspector that Sofia had been given to them by drug dealers around eight weeks before, and they had not known she was pregnant until she gave birth to a litter of puppies. They sold all but one of the puppies, which they kept.
The Inspector noticed that the puppy was in satisfactory condition, but was very concerned about Sofia’s emaciated condition.
After the owners agreed to sign her over to the RSPCA, he took her to RSPCA Newbrook Farm Animal Hospital for a veterinary examination and potentially treatment, where an RSPCA vet found Sofia was ‘extremely underweight’.
She said Sofia had lost an estimated 15 per cent of her body weight and would have suffered unnecessarily for a minimum of two weeks – and probably a lot longer – from starvation.
She said: “The dog must have been completely starved for a minimum period of 2-3 weeks in order to have lost 15 per cent of its initial, ideal body weight. I do not know if the dog had any access to food over this time so she could have had partial calorie restriction for a lot longer.”
The vet concluded that Sofia’s owners failed to take reasonable steps to protect her from pain, suffering, injury and disease through their failure to provide an appropriate diet – and that she would have expected a reasonable owner to seek veterinary advice and to have fed the dog appropriately.
The hospital vet put Sofia on a feeding plan, and within a few weeks, her body condition had improved, returning to an acceptable level.
Mr Jones added: “It is a pet owner’s legal responsibility to properly look after any animal in their care. Poor Sophia was starved, had become emaciated and was made to suffer because her owners failed to feed her properly or seek veterinary treatment for her.
“Thankfully in RSPCA care she was soon returned to good health.
“For those with concerns about the health of their pet, please check our online advice about finding a vet.”
Visit https://www.rspca.org.uk/adviceandwelfare/pets/findavet for more information.
