Breeder kept wolf dogs in filth: RSPCA

By nanderson

WOLF-DOG breeder Nadia Carlyle has appeared in court on animal cruelty charges after keeping more than 30 of the animals in filthy conditions.

The 34-year-old from Lydbrook pleaded not guilty to eight counts of causing unnecessary suffering to the 19 dogs and puppies which were confiscated by the RSPCA and police.

District Judge Simon Cooper, sitting at Forest of Dean Magistrates' Court in Coleford, heard two of the rescued female Utonagan pups, which are bred to look like wolves, died later that day despite being taken to a vet.

A postmortem revealed one of the pups, Elissa, had a pulmonary infection the other, Samara, had been suffering with broncho pneumonia and pericarditis, which is inflammation of the tissue surrounding the heart.

Martin Prowel, prosecuting for the RSPCA, said the deaths of the dogs were significant due to the conditions they had been found in and the short amount of time between when they were removed and when they died.

He said: “The results of the postmortems supported that they were suffering due to the conditions they were kept in.”

He said other dogs were found to be suffering from lethargy, dehydration and diarrhoea.

RSPCA officer Gary Lucas visited Carlyle's home and ordered removal of the dogs on November 8, 2006. He told the court: “The untidiness and smell is what we first noticed when going into the house.

“The smell of ammonia, faeces and urine hit me immediately and the further we went in the stronger it became. It began to affect my eyes.”

Mr Lucas said all the windows in Carlyle's Dechmont Cottage home were closed and there was no ventilation.

“The cages the puppies were kept in were standard size but the bedding material was dirty, wet and had dried faeces in it,” he said.

“There were rubbish bags in the fenced-in compound at the back of the house that were piled up and contained chicken bones and faeces wrapped in newspaper.”

He added: “My view is that this did not accumulate over a day but had built up over days and weeks.”

Mr Prowel said two days before the RSPCA seized some of her dogs, Carlyle gave civil servant David Pearse a Utonagan bitch, five puppies and two adult dogs to look after while she moved house.

Yesterday Mr Pearse, who lives in Yeovil, Somerset, told the court: “The bitch and pups were vomiting most of the way and continued to do so when they got home.

“We took them to a vet and they had parvo virus. The bitch was emaciated and couldn't feed her pups because she had no milk. She had no energy and was in a shocking condition. Her health frightened me.”

The RSPCA left eight of the adult dogs in Carlyle's care.

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