A Bristol man has been jailed after paying £3,000 for the ears of a litter of puppies to be cropped.
Adam Malik, 29, of Alcove Road, Fishponds, Bristol, admitted a charge of permitting the unnecessary suffering of an animal when he appeared at Bristol Magistrates' Court on Thursday, 6th May 2021.
Permitting the unnecessary suffering of an animal is an offence under section 4(2) of the Animal Welfare Act 2006. It has a maximum penalty of 26 weeks' custody and/or an unlimited fine on summary conviction.
The prosecution was brought by the RSPCA, which attended Malik's property in response to a phone call from a concerned member of the public.
RSPCA inspector Kimily Waters gave an account of the visit.
She said: "I attended the home with police and Malik invited us inside. In one room of the outhouse there was a litter of nine 15-week-old bull breed puppies. They were all fast asleep, piled on top of each other in a makeshift kennel area.
"It was clean and tidy and the puppies appeared in good condition but had all had their ears cropped. Their ears were red, crusty and had not yet healed.
"He told me he had bred the puppies and that he owned their mother, Xena, and father, Pablo.
"Both dogs were outside along with a third, an eight-month-old called Skittles who he explained he’d also bred. Pablo also had cropped ears and Malik explained that he'd been cropped before buying him and importing him from overseas."
Another bitch and her 12 young puppies were being kept in a shower cubicle. All of the dogs were seized from the property.
In interview Malik admitted that he had paid someone £3,000 to crop the ears of the nine bull breed puppies.
Cropping, which is done for purely cosmetic reasons, involves cutting tissue from a dog's ears in order to give it a more "street cred" look.
The court heard that Malik intended to sell on the puppies, which had received no pain relief since the procedure.
Magistrates determined that the offence was so serious that only a custodial sentence was appropriate.
In sentencing, the Presiding Justice said: "You arranged for the puppies to be cropped through someone you didn't know... [they] were given no pain relief. The puppies continued to suffer pain and wound infection and you must have known they were suffering and they continued to suffer.
"They saw no vet and it was all for commercial gain. You have no licence to breed these dogs. We can only order custody as the offence is so serious."
Malik was sentenced to 14 weeks' custody.
RSPCA dog welfare expert Dr Samantha Gaines said: "Ear cropping is a painful process which is carried out purely for cosmetic reasons and is often done to make a dog look more intimidating. It can, however, have lifelong implications on the dog's health and behaviour.
"Dogs can suffer from infected wounds as well as chronic ear infections, while some may remain incredibly sensitive and head shy for their whole lives. Dogs use their ears to communicate with other dogs and with humans and some cropped dogs coming into our care have demonstrated behavioural problems caused by an inability to do this normally."
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