12-year ban for rabbit owner

Margaret Walsh, who was also banned from keeping animals for 12 years, ignored repeated pleas from the RSPCA to hand over her pets into their care and would not take advice on how to look after them.

Instead she kept the creatures in cramped cages with not enough room for them to stand on their hind legs without their ears hitting the top of the box.

The cages, many of them made out of Perspex, were stacked one on top of the other, blocking any form of ventilation. For more than two years the 52-year-old was visited by concerned RSPCA inspectors at her home in First Avenue, Low Hill, Wolverhampton, where the pets were kept in the living room, bedroom and a garden shed.

Photographs handed to Wolverhampton Magistrates Court yesterday showed that some of the rabbits had painfully overgrown claws.

Walsh was described as a woman of limited intelligence who loved the animals and made sure they were fed and watered.

But district judge Graham Wilkinson said: "That is not enough. She must have been aware that the animals were suffering.

"A real animal lover would never have let their pets get into the appalling state that she allowed hers to, sitting in their own excrement, hardly able to breathe and suffering from various ailments.

"I believe this was neglect rather than deliberate harm but an aggravating factor in the case is the number of warnings and offers of assistance she rejected."

Mr Roger Price, prosecuting for the RSPCA, said the cost of the prosecution, including veterinary and boarding fees, was almost £16,000. The judge ordered Walsh to pay half the costs at the rate of £10 a week admitting it would take around 16 years to pay off.

Walsh, who pleaded guilty to three charges of failing to ensure the welfare of her animals, was also given a two-year community order with supervision.