Farmer banned after ram suffered

A sheep farmer from Wolverhampton has been banned from keeping livestock for six years and ordered to pay more than £4,000 for causing "significant suffering" to a ram which was found with a gaping five-inch gash in its side.

Government inspectors who were called to 65-year-old Richard Atkinson's farm in Compton were horrified to find ribs exposed and flies inside the animal's chest cavity. The ram was put down.

A post mortem later revealed it also had a punctured lung.

The wound had been caused in a dog attack four weeks earlier when several other animals on his smallholding, off Bridgnorth Road, had also been injured, said Louise Bennett, prosecuting.

Atkinson, of Henwood Road, Tettenhall, was described to Wolverhampton magistrates as a "hobbyist farmer" who was a motorcycle mechanic by trade.

City council inspectors called at the site in October last year after he had ignored several letters asking if they could visit.

He pleaded guilty to failing to prevent unnecessary suffering to an animal and failing to ensure no animal contact.

Defending him, Ken Leedham said Atkinson had successfully treated nine other sheep injured in the attack but had made an "error of judgement" in not calling a vet to treat the ram.

The court was handed letters from his vet and neighbours praising his care of the animals.

On top of the ban, he was fined £2,000 and ordered to pay £2,040 costs.