A dog left to suffer in silence
When police raided a property in South Normanton, Derbyshire, on 5 June last year, they found a female Patterdale Terrier carrying injuries no animal should ever endure. She was one of three dogs at the address, and an officer immediately noticed something was badly wrong.
The little terrier had a historical degloving injury to her bottom lip, meaning the flesh had been torn away. She was also missing four of her incisor teeth. An expert witness said the injuries were highly suggestive of this dog having fought with a badger.
Pain that went untreated for days
What makes this so heartbreaking is that she was never taken to a vet. Her owner, Thomas Ball, claimed the wounds came from a road traffic collision, but she received no treatment at all for her terrible injuries.
The expert was clear about what that meant for her. He stated:
Suffering would have been experienced by this animal via a mechanism of pain for a period of at least 3 days possibly longer.
Justice that does not fit the cruelty
Ball, 73, of Church Street, South Normanton, pleaded guilty to an offence under Section 9 of the Animal Welfare Act for failing to meet the needs of his dog. For leaving an animal in agony, he received only a two year conditional discharge, £1,000 compensation and £400 in court costs, and avoided jail entirely.
Sign now if you agree that anyone who leaves a dog to suffer untreated like this should face a real penalty and be banned from keeping animals!