A 60-year-old man has been banned from breeding animals after 39 labradoodles were found living in filth at his home.
A member of the public raised the alarm after she went to his house in Western Australia’s south-west to buy a puppy for $5000, then refused to go ahead with the sale after seeing the dogs’ living conditions.
RSPCA inspectors ended up seizing all 39 of the dogs from the man’s home at Bridgetown in January last year.
The RSPCA said an inspector found filthy, squalid conditions, with large piles of rubbish, dogs barking and fighting, a stench of urine and faeces, and older dogs with matted coats and faeces in their fur.
Puppies were hiding in pools of urine while bigger dogs stood on them, the organisation said.
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Some of the animals were lethargic and non-responsive, while one dog was found stuck down the side of a bed. Another was seen drinking stagnant water from a broken sewerage pipe.
There was no fresh food or water available, and many had medical conditions including ear infections, conjunctivitis, embedded grass seeds, weight issues and dental disease, according to the RSPCA.
RSPCA WA inspector manager Kylie Green said many of the animals were suffering from significant psychological harm.
“Some of them just stood in their kennels for weeks after they first came here, staring at the wall and refusing to interact,” she said in a statement.
“It’s a credit to our expert staff and network of dedicated foster carers that they’ve come as far as they have, but this is what people need to stop and consider when they are looking to buy a ‘cute’ puppy.”
The man, sentenced on Wednesday at Bunbury Magistrates Court, was running a breeding operation to cash in on labradoodles’ popularity, the RSPCA said.
He was banned from owning any animal for 40 years, with the exception of a maximum of three sterilised dogs.
The man, who pleaded guilty to 28 counts of animal cruelty, was also fined $112,000 – though payment of $64,000 was suspended for two years.
The RSPCA urged people to consider where they bought pets from, and warned they could otherwise run the risk of supporting animal cruelty.
