A 47-year-old Hammond Park woman has been banned from owning a dog for three years, fined $2500 and ordered to pay $305.70 in costs after pleading guilty to animal cruelty.
The Fremantle Magistrates Court heard the offender left Bubba, a 10 year old Maltese cross-breed, to suffer a serious medical condition without treatment, and failed to comply with a direction from the RSPCA to take Bubba to see a vet.
In July 2019 the RSPCA received a cruelty report in relation to a dirty, matted dog seen in the Hammond Park area.
When inspectors went to the home, they saw Bubba had two masses growing on his rear end with a bloody, foul smelling discharge coming from them. The RSPCA issued a written direction under the Animal Welfare Act 2002 to take Bubba to a vet and follow any advice.
Two days later the inspectors went back to the property and found the offender hadn’t complied with the direction to see a vet.
The woman said she had bought Bubba from a pet shop around 10 years ago and he hadn’t been to a vet since he was a puppy. She said she had noticed the growths on his anal area around two months ago but hadn’t provided any pain relief and hadn’t taken Bubba to a vet because her money situation was really tight.
The offender surrendered Bubba to the RSPCA whose vets found that in addition to the two red, ulcerated infected masses, he had:
- many other firm nodular masses under the skin of his anus
- his coat was full of flea dirt and was long and matted which would have caused itchiness and pulled on his skin
- his ears were inflamed and infected.
The examining vet said Bubba would have been in pain from the masses on his anus, especially when defecating, and from his ear infection.
Bubba made a full recovery while in the care of the RSPCA and has since been adopted into a loving home.
Executive Manager Animal and Enforcement Operations, Hannah Dreaver, said she was appalled by the condition Bubba was in.
‘Looking at Bubba today you can tell what a healthy, happy little dog he always had the potential to be,’ Hannah said.
‘To be robbed of that for goodness knows how long before we were called is heart-breaking.
‘It’s never ok to neglect your pets or let an animal suffer. If you can’t afford to care for your pet, ask for help.’
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 online here.
