SPCA successfully prosecutes woman a second time for breaching animal ban

The defendant was sentenced to intensive supervision for 2 years, and disqualified from owning animals for a further 10 years at North Shore District Court. The Judge has reserved her decision in relation to the costs sought by SPCA.

The defendant was first charged and convicted in 2014 for failing to meet the physical, health and behavioral needs of 50 cats, and for failing to alleviate unnecessary pain or distress of 22 cats. As part of her sentence, she was disqualified from owning animals for 10 years, but immediately began breaching that order.

In September 2018, SPCA executed a search warrant on the woman’s property where Inspectors seized a chicken and three cats, one of which needed veterinary treatment for gingivitis and flea allergy dermatitis. Inspectors also discovered rotten hen’s eggs, dead birds and insects in containers, mummified rats and mice, and a dead possum inside a cupboard. They also found injectable sedatives for animals.

In the time in which she was banned from owning animals, the defendant had been using an alias to seek veterinary treatment for multiple animals in her possession. She had also attempted to start a calf rescue project and was in the process of rehoming 20 bobby calves. The defendant was inexperienced in raising calves and when two became sick, she moved them into the house. One later died and the body of a cut-open calf was found by SPCA Inspectors when they visited the property.

SPCA will not hesitate to investigate and hold to account anyone found to be breaching disqualification orders.