When police officers found three-year-old Staffordshire Bull Terrier cross "Harvey", he was lying against a backyard fence, whimpering and unable to get up from the ground with ants, fleas and other bugs crawling over his body.
The RSPCA said Harvey was in such an emaciated state that his entire skeleton was visible and he was opening and closing his mouth indicating he was extremely thirsty.
Despite barely being able to lift his head, he wagged his tail at the sound of the officer's friendly voice.
On Friday, his owner, a 49-year-old woman was sentenced to two-and-a-half months jail after she pleaded guilty in the Port Adelaide Magistrates Court to an aggravated cruelty charge for causing serious harm to a dog.
Harvey was found starving to death in the backyard of her Findon home in December 2020 after South Australia Police received a report of a distressed and emaciated dog.
Once the RSPCA was notified, Harvey was rushed to an emergency vet clinic.
Due to the severity of Harvey's condition and the level of suffering, the vet made the decision to euthanise him.
On his subsequent examination of Harvey’s body, RSPCA SA Chief Vet Dr Brad Ward said it was "one of the worst cases of body waste I have seen in a career of 13 years with RSPCA".
A post-mortem examination confirmed malnutrition and starvation as the cause of death, and revealed Harvey had eaten grass in his final days.
The RSPCA said the woman told inspectors that Harvey belonged to her daughter who had moved out and admitted that the dog would go without food for four or five days at a time and that she was not "on the ball" with providing water.
The RSPCA said the woman tried to argue in court that she could not afford to feed Harvey, but Magistrate Jayanthi Pandya dismissed the claims, pointing out that the defendant was able to fund a packet-per-day smoking habit.
"It is difficult to comprehend how you could buy cigarettes and not food for this animal," Magistrate Pandya said.
"To divert responsibility to your daughter leaves me questioning your remorse.
"Pet ownership is not a responsibility to be disregarded or approached carelessly."
The woman has already served the sentence because she was jailed earlier in the year after her bail application was refused.
She has been ordered to pay more than $600 in vet fees and court costs.
Under SA's Animal Welfare Act, the maximum penalty for animal cruelty is $20,000 or two years' imprisonment, which is doubled for an aggravated offence.
