Animal cruelty offenders in two separate cases were sentenced on Friday in Armadale Magistrates Court with the outcomes totalling $7,500 in fines and seven years of prohibition from being in charge of animals.
The first of the two cases, presided over by Magistrate Brian Mahon, involved a 28-year-old Wellard woman who left two pet rats to perish inside her home without water during a heatwave.
The court heard an RSPCA inspector attended the woman’s home in February after receiving a cruelty report regarding animals potentially being left in the house for approximately two weeks.
After obtaining consent to enter the home, the inspector observed two deceased brown and white rats inside the home which was so hot and humid her phone camera fogged up while inside.
There was food available to the rats, but no water, and one rat appeared to have dried blood around their nose and legs.
During the investigation, the offender said she didn’t own the rats and arrangements had been made for somebody to collect them. However, nobody collected the rats.
In sentencing, Magistrate Mahon said the offender was responsible in law for the rats and fined the offender $4000.
She was also prohibited from being in charge of an animal for two years, except for her son’s dog. She was also ordered to pay $853.70 in costs.
In the second case, a 28-year-old Kenwick woman was fined $3,500 and banned from being in charge of an animal for five years after failing to seek vet care for her Jack Russell-terrier, named Goddy, who had sustained life-threatening injuries during a fight with her other dog.
The court heard RSPCA WA inspectors interviewed the woman in August after WA Police officers had removed the injured dog and taken him to a nearby vet for immediate treatment.
The offender advised inspectors Goddy had been in a fight with her other dog and once she broke it up, Goddy would not get up off the ground.
She said she knew he needed treatment for his injuries but ‘just kept checking on him’. She wrapped him in a blanket and he did not move, eat, or drink in the two days between the incident and being removed by police.
A vet at Kenwick Veterinary Hospital said Goddy was suffering from hypothermia, had multiple significant open dog tooth-sized wounds to the neck and shoulder areas, bruising on his throat, had a dangerously low heart rate of 20 beats per minute, and likely had a brainstem injury.
He was unconscious and nonresponsive and in the decompensatory phase of shock due to organ dysfunction and irreversible damage to tissue. He was humanely euthanised as a result of his extensive injuries and unlikelihood of ever returning to normal function.
The offender was also ordered to pay $3000 in costs.
In sentencing, Magistrate Mahon said there was a ‘failure to grasp [Goddy’s] suffering’ and the ‘suffering caused to the dog was very difficult’.
RSPCA WA Inspector Manager Kylie Green said both cases were shocking examples of severe neglect.
“In both cases, the defenceless animals were relying on the people responsible for their care to ensure they were properly looked after but they were drastically let down,” she said.
“Providing something as basic as water in the first instance and taking the Jack Russell to the vet in the second would have prevented unnecessary suffering for these animals.
“The thought of what the rats and Goddy went through is heartbreaking – made even worse by knowing they didn’t have to suffer like they did.”
The Wellard woman was convicted under sections 19(1) and 19(3)(d) of the Animal Welfare Act 2002. She was found to have been cruel to the domesticated rats in that she did not provide them with sufficient water.
The Kenwick woman was sentenced under sections 19(1) and 19(3)(h) of the Animal Welfare Act 2002. RSPCA WA argued she was cruel to an animal in that the dog suffered harm which could have been alleviated by her taking reasonable steps.
The maximum penalty is a $50,000 fine and five years in prison.
The RSPCA relies on the community to report incidents of suspected cruelty and neglect. Report cruelty 24/7 on 1300 CRUELTY (1300 278 358) or at rspcawa.org.au.
