A WOMAN whose neglect caused three chickens to starve to death, and whose two dogs were found emaciated and riddled with fleas and worms, has been convicted of animal cruelty.
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The Muswellbrook woman, 36, was convicted and sentenced in Muswellbrook Local Court on Wednesday for multiple acts of cruelty uncovered by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) following a tip-off in December 2017.
An RSPCA inspector visited the property on December 14 2017 and found the two dogs, a whippet crossbreed and a kelpie crossbreed, infested with fleas, hookworm and crusted with flea dirt. The animals weighed 14.5 kilograms and 12 kilograms respectively. Their ideal weight is between 18-20 kilograms, the RSPCA said in a statement on Thursday.
The dogs had not been adequately fed for at least four weeks and they required vet treatment at least two weeks prior to being seized, a vet at the society's Hunter Veterinary Hospital found.
The RSPCA returned to the property on January 3 2018 and seized 10 live and two deceased chickens. The vet found all the birds had lice and worms, had not been properly fed for at least four weeks, were thin to emaciated and two had severe scale deformity from leg mites. The two deceased chickens had starved to death in the 24 hours before the inspector's visit, the RSPCA said.
One chicken was provided with immediate intensive care but could not be saved, the authority said. A post-mortem examination found it was extremely emaciated, with no body fat and very little muscle mass. The stomachs of all three deceased birds were filled with dirt and grit.
The two dogs "were seized on a 40-degree Celsius day", RSPCA NSW chief inspector Scott Meyers said. "As we move into a very dry, hot summer, RSPCA NSW reminds animal owners of their obligations to provide proper and sufficient food and water to their animals."
In seven weeks of being in the care of the RSPCA, the dogs recovered, with the whippet crossbreed increasing its weight by 48 per cent to 21.5 kilograms and the kelpie crossbreed reaching 19.4 kilograms (a 61 per cent increase), the RSPCA said. The chickens were treated for worms, lice and mites and received adequate feed. Within a month, they gained between 41 per cent and and 68 per cent of their weight, the RSPCA said.
All of the animals have since been adopted into "loving forever homes", the society said.
In court on Wednesday, the woman was sentenced to an 18-month community corrections order for the charges of failing to provide vet treatment for emaciation, fleas and intestinal worms to the dogs, and for committing an act of aggravated cruelty towards the three chickens that died, the RSPCA said.
For failing to provide vet treatment to the emaciated chickens she was fined $2000, and for failing to provide them vet treatment for lice and mites she was fined $1000.
She was also banned from owning any animal for five years and ordered to pay vet costs of $2913.
"We thank members of the community for proactively reporting cases of cruelty to us," Mr Meyers said. "It is through your support that we are able to investigate and prosecute animal cruelty offenders."
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