Ban for man after dog left to starve
A man who was asked to feed a dog which was left to starve to death on a balcony has been banned from keeping animals for five years.
A man who was asked to feed a dog which was left to starve to death on a balcony has been banned from keeping animals for five years.
Jason May escaped with a 12-month conditional discharge when he was sentenced at Dudley Magistrates Court yesterday.
May, aged 30, of Burnham Court, Lower Derry Street, Brierley Hill, pleaded guilty to one count of causing unnecessary suffering to a female brindle Staffordshire bull terrier and not guilty to three counts of failing to ensure the welfare of both the female and male bull terriers.
The prosecution accepted his guilty plea as the basis for sentencing.
Male and female Staffordshire bull terriers, Tyson and Tia, had been living in a high-rise flat by themselves while their owner, 21-year-old Andrew Wheeler, and May lived on the floor above, the court was told. The bitch had been kept in a plastic kennel on a balcony outside the flat and was found dead by RSPCA inspector Neil Tysall on October 22.
Mr Nick Sutton, prosecuting on behalf of the RSPCA, said Tia had been fed that day and it is believed the shock of the food after days of being starved was the cause of the animal's death.
He said Wheeler had asked May to feed the dogs a month before, after he started a new job.
When May went round to the flat he discovered Tyson confined to the bathroom and Tia on the balcony.
The dogs "wolfed" the food down on the first occasion, he told inspectors. Mr Ranjit Bains, defending, said May was not the "prime mover" and had only visited the dogs on three occasions. He said he accepted he should have reported the animals' suffering to the RSPCA.
He said: "Mr May remonstrated with Mr Wheeler but he failed to do anything."
May told the court he did not want the animals to live in that state.
Magistrates gave May a 12-month conditional discharge and disqualified him from keeping animals for five years.
He was also ordered to pay £400 court costs.
Wheeler has already been given a life ban on keeping animals and an 18-week prison sentence suspended for two years after pleading guilty to four animal welfare offences when he appeared before Dudley magistrates last month.
Tyson, the surviving male dog, has been rehomed by the RSPCA.
