Farmer convicted after he 'flouted' dog ban
An Okehampton farmer has been convicted in Exeter Magistrates Court of breaching the ban that was imposed on him by Exeter Crown Court in November 2012.
He was fined £500 and ordered to pay costs of £500 plus a £30 victim surcharge. So a total of £1030. The prosecution was brought by Devon and Somerset Trading Standards Service.
The court heard that Leon Smith kept a collie dog in a livestock trailer on his land at Meldon, near Okehampton for at least six days. The court was told that a local resident heard the dog in the trailer on 24th March 2013, took photos, and contacted Trading Standards.
When the Trading Standards Officers visited two days later they found the dog in the trailer, the trailer was littered with dog faeces, the water for the dog was frozen solid and the officers found no food available to the dog. Trading Standards then discovered that a Dartmoor National Park official had seen the dog in the trailer on 20th March 2013
Mr Smith had been convicted of offences under the Animal Welfare Act 2006 in relation to his keeping of sheepdogs in March 2012. During that prosecution the court had heard that Trading Standards Officers visited his land at Meldon in February 2011 and found his dogs feeding on the body of a dead pig that had been left in their enclosure, while more pig carcases were found amongst piles of rubbish and broken machinery by the entrance to the field.
Several other carcasses were found at the site, including the remains of a dead sheep in a horse box.
The Crown Court imposed a deferred sentence and gave Mr Smith the opportunity to improve conditions but his case was brought back early by the Council's Trading Standards Team when they found fresh evidence of neglect, the most shocking being when police officers discovered one of his dogs confined overnight in a parked van with a maggot ridden sheep carcass alongside two others in unsuitable cages without food or water.
Mr Smith was consequently banned from keeping dogs for ten years in November 2012.
Councillor Roger Croad, Devon County Council Cabinet Member for Communities, said: “The court gave Mr Smith the opportunity to demonstrate that he could comply with the requirements of animal welfare legislation and achieve the necessary standards of care. Despite being advised by our Trading Standards Officers and local vets on how to achieve this, he failed to do so.
"The conditions his animals were kept in fall well below acceptable welfare standards. The court banned him from keeping dogs for the next ten years and he has almost immediately flouted that ban. We hope that this conviction sends a clear message to those who do not meet basic animal welfare needs, and we will continue to take all necessary action to ensure that these acceptable standards of animal care are met.”
