Dog owner jailed after cropping bulldog ears and posting pictures on Instagram
A dog owner has been jailed and banned from keeping canines after arranging to have two puppies' ears cropped.
Warren Wesley Jackman was caught after pictures of several puppies with cropped ears were uploaded onto an Instagram page.
RSPCA and West Midlands Police officers raided a house connected to the account and found four dogs with their ears cropped.
The 40-year-old, of Redditch Road, Birmingham, admitted arranging for the ears of male and female American bully puppies known as Loki and Hela to be cut by a third party. He had bought the dogs from a breeder.
Cropping, also known as docking, involves the dog's ears being sliced to make the animal look more fierce and aggressive.
Ear cropping is illegal in England and Wales under Section 5 of the Animal Welfare Act 2006.
The RSPCA inspector leading the investigation told the court he had found four dogs inside the property, two adult American bullies and two seven-month-old American bullies.
He said: "All the animals appeared to be in good condition. All of them had had their ears cropped, but not recently."
The animals were removed from the property and returned to the breeder who has no record of cropping.
Jackman appeared at Birmingham Magistrates’ Court last week having been arrested on warrant.
The judge sentenced him to four weeks in prison to run concurrent to another prison term for an unrelated charge and banned him from keeping dogs for 10 years.
In mitigation, the court heard that Jackman blamed ignorance and drug issues for breaking the law and cropping their ears.
