Twenty one dogs and a cat found living in filthy crates in Cumbria

Ten of the dogs were emaciated which caused them to become anaemic. They were also stained with faeces and urine, and some had pressure sores on their bodies.

A vet said they had been suffering from hunger 'for months.'

At a sentencing hearing at  Barrow-in-Furness Magistrates' Court on 25 September, their owner, Penelope Garner-Carpenter (DoB 25/04/1959), was disqualified from keeping animals for life, following an investigation and prosecution by the RSPCA.

Garner-Carpenter, who had been convicted in her absence at an earlier hearing, was also handed a 22-week custodial sentence, suspended for 12 months, for three animal welfare offences, to run concurrently.

Branch support

The RSPCA's network of branch-run centres in Southport, Blackpool, Burton-upon-Trent, Radcliffe-on-Trent and York, together with Animal Rescue Cumbria successfully rehomed 20 of the dogs and the cat from the case. Sadly one Collie was put to sleep on veterinary advice because of continuing ill health. The cat, Julius, was adopted after being looked after by the RSPCA's Manchester and Salford Branch.

The court heard that on July 14 last year, police seized a large number of dogs from the back of a van and caravan in a car park in Walney Road, Barrow-in-Furness, after responding to emergency calls about the way the dogs were being kept.

The 16 female and five male Collies, and a black-and-white male cat, were taken to the local police station and the RSPCA and a vet were contacted.

In his written evidence to the court, RSPCA Inspector Carl Larsson, who attended the scene, said: "I was shown the cargo area of the van, which, although the dogs had been removed from it, still had a strong unpleasant smell of urine and faeces. 

"In the front cab of the van, which was very cluttered, I saw an unopened pack of raw chicken thighs that I was informed the owner had stated she was feeding them. 

"The van was a panel van with no windows in the back. Once the doors were closed there would be very limited natural light entering the cargo area. 

"Ventilation would also be an issue, particularly with the crates stacked three high as they had been. The weather in Cumbria had been extremely hot in the previous few weeks in the mid to high 20s.

"The caravan was in a similar condition and I could not believe that someone had been living there. The dogs were all housed in metal dog crates with plastic bases, although these were missing from some of them. There was no bedding of any sort and almost all the cages were heavily soiled. 

"Many of the dogs had diarrhoea which they were sitting in. All of the dogs smelt very bad with urine and faecal staining on their legs and undersides." 

A vet examined all the dogs at the police station. Some were taken to veterinary practices for further treatment and others were transferred by RSPCA officers to private boarding facilities on behalf of the charity before being rehomed to six of the charity's branch-run animal centres. Six of them were rehomed by Animal Rescue Cumbria. 

In her written evidence to the court, the vet said 10 of the dogs had a body condition score of one out of 10 (where one is emaciated and 10 is obese) and were covered in urine and faeces more than 24 hours old. She said all the dogs were extremely anaemic as a result. This would have taken several months to develop, exacerbated by their malnutrition. 

Several dogs had diarrhoea, matted fur and pressure sores, and one female Collie was so dehydrated she had to be put on a drip overnight. 

The vet said: "The cat was terrified and had been kept in the caravan with some of the dogs. The caravan was very crowded and dirty, and the cat would have found it hard to hide from the dogs which would have been extremely stressful. This alone would cause suffering to the cat.

"The remaining dogs were stacked in crates three high in the van. The dogs were unable to move around; it would have been permanently dark when the doors were shut. The environment would cause suffering as well as the lack of appropriate resources. I can say due to the poor body condition of the whole group that they had not had sufficient access to food.

"The suffering would have easily been preventable by the application of regular flea control and the provision of an appropriate diet, I would consider both to be basic provisions."

In her interview with the RSPCA, Garner-Carpenter, said she had owned the dogs most of their lives and the females had been bred by her. She acknowledged the van was not a suitable way to keep them but said it was only a short-term solution as she had been evicted.

She said the dogs were getting fed raw chicken daily and she was treating them for fleas as required. She told the RSPCA that because she only had a set number of dog leads she rotated the times they spent outside, although she admitted they spent too long in the crates.

In mitigation the court heard the defendant, now of Hatfield Woodhouse near Doncaster, South Yorkshire, continued to deny the offences and said she was suffering from old age and poor health. 

Speaking after sentencing, RSPCA Inspector Will Lamping, who led the investigation, said: "Keeping so many dogs in crates in these conditions was totally unacceptable. There would have been barely room to move, distress from excessive noise and the animals would have been forced to toilet in the small space they had been provided with. 

"Crates should only be used for short periods of time, with suitable training, and should never be used as a permanent environment for a dog. 

"My thanks go to Cumbria Police, who answered the initial emergency call and assisted us with this case, as well as Animal Rescue Cumbria and the RSPCA's network of branch-run centres who worked so hard to help the dogs and cat recover and go on to find loving new homes."