Pet ban for man who kept 15 dogs and three ferrets in dirty and cramped kennels in Walsall

George Mansell, aged 25 and of Walsall, was caught keeping 15 dogs and three ferrets in dark, cramped conditions in breach of the Animal Welfare Act at an unkempt property in Oakwood Road in Harden.

RSPCA and police officers and a vet rescued the animals from a yard full of piled-up rubbish and several bins containing what appeared to be fermented dog dirt. The officers found poor lighting and air flow, cobwebs, insect infestations, a lack of food and water, and high levels of ammonia.

Mansell was sentenced at Birmingham Magistrates Court after pleading guilty to causing unnecessary suffering to the ferrets by failing to provide adequate nutrition and keeping them in a filthy environment; causing unnecessary suffering to a poodle; failing to take steps to meet the needs of 14 dogs by housing them in cramped, dark and dirty conditions and failing to take steps to meet the needs of nine dogs, by not providing them with a suitable diet or investigating their poor body condition in May.

They found a terrier inside a cramped kennel with the window replaced with wire, there was no food or water. They also found three underweight ferrets in a “dirty and unkempt” area where two rabbit cages were stacked on top of each other and “covered in what appeared to be chicken feathers, straw, some remains of unknown animals”.

The yard contained six kennel runs, each with one or two dogs inside including spaniels and terriers with a combination of ailments.

Among the animals was a terrier with a large healing wound along its back, another had cataracts, a twisted mouth and a scar and lump on the nose - suggesting an earlier injury. A spaniel had feet caked in faeces while another terrier had lost part of its ear. A poodle cross had matted fur, two other terriers were kept in a cramped area and one showed signed of ear crusting, while the other had eye discharge. Meanwhile three six-week-old Jack Russell pups had fleas around the eyes.

RSPCA animal rescue officer Cara Gibbon stated: “This was a small room which to get access to we had to physically climb over various items of cluttering in the garden. When the door is closed, this area again is in complete darkness and is completely full of garden equipment or tools.

“It was impossible to walk into this room unless we moved items. The area where the dogs were situated was also full of faeces.”

The vet’s report said two of the ferrets were “too” thin, as were a terrier called Milo and a poodle. All had body condition scores of three out of nine.

“The external yard areas were in disarray with scrap and rubbish piled high. Multiple bird and small animal cages were strewn about. There were also numerous buckets and containers of brown semi-liquid unknown contents that were extremely malodorous.”

In mitigation, the court was told Mansell, of Livingstone Road in Little Bloxwich had personal difficulties and had not intended to harm the animals.

For the offences he was jailed for 12 weeks suspended for two years, ordered to pay £400 costs and £154 victim surcharge and carry out 20 activity days. The animals were seized by the RSPCA.

A spokesperson said after the hearing: “No animal deserves to be kept in conditions like those we found here. They were at risk from malnourishment, disease, parasites, and from injuring themselves because of the poor state of repair some of the cages were in.

“Thankfully, we were able to intervene and get them the veterinary care they needed - and then to a place where they will be looked after properly.”