Warning: Distressing content.
Two dogs recovered from an Eden Hill backyard were so skinny they looked ‘skeletal’ while a kitten inside the house seemingly survived off eating insects, a Perth court has heard.
An Eden Hill woman has been convicted of four charges of animal cruelty for starving the two dogs, the cat and a kitten of food and water and leaving them emaciated, malnourished, and dehydrated.
RSPCA investigators intervened in January after receiving police reports about a “skeletal” dog who was wobbly on his feet.
They found a two-year-old brindle and white dog named Nala and a seven-year-old Mastiff named Neil in the backyard of the woman’s Eden Hill property.
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The outlines of Nala’s ribs and spine were clearly visible. Neil was in a similar state and was lethargic, and there was no food or water out for the dogs.
The dogs were seized and taken to the vet for treatment, with RSPCA prosecutors telling Midland Magistrates Court it took 15 minutes to get Neil to stand up and walk.
Vet examinations found the dogs to be emaciated and dehydrated; it was also suspected that a lack of fluid was impacting Neil’s heart which was not pumping enough blood to his body.
A two-year-old black and white cat named Francesca and an eight-week-old kitten named Fergus were also found on the property.
The inspectors found the duo inside the house frantically pacing around and seized the pair.
Both cats were found to be dehydrated; Fergus was in poor body condition, and it appeared his prominent source of nutrition had been insects.
Francesca was pregnant, but also in poor body condition.
The owner, a 32-year-old woman, was fined $13,000, forced to hand over the pets to the RPSCA and has been is banned from being in charge of any other animal for two years.
Nala gained almost 14 kilograms in the three months after being taken away and Neil more than 20kg. Francesca gave birth to five healthy kittens four weeks later.
Neil, the cats, and the kittens are all in foster care while Nala remains under vet care at the RSPCA.
During sentencing, Magistrate Paul Lyons said the images of the dogs showed “quite frankly an appalling state of malnutrition and dehydration”.
He said that “the extent to which the animals must have suffered was significant” and “the animals must have been starving”.
RSPCA WA Inspector Manager Kylie Green agreed it was a shocking case of neglect.
“The offender offered up several excuses for the animals ending up in such an appalling state, but when all is said and done, they were starving and dehydrated — one of them carrying five kittens and another barely able to stand and walk,” she said.
“Animals don’t end up in the state these were in overnight — this was prolonged suffering which the offender ignored. It’s awful to think what these animals went through.”
The offender was found to have been cruel to Nala, Neil, Francesca, and Fergus by not providing proper and sufficient food and water.
She was also ordered to pay an additional $4732 in costs.