A deviant dog owner, the Southsea Animal Abuser and Torturer, Cherie Rees, who let her baby American Bulldog suffer a prolonged death from starvation while laying in its own excrement, for her own enjoyment, at her residence has NOT been jailed.
Cherie Rees, 33, of Salterns Avenue, was received a 10-year prohibition on animal ownership after neglecting her 22-month-old dog, Bell, which perished in a room littered with faeces, having been too frail to move or stand.
As there is a direct correlation between animal and child abuse it is recommended that Cherie Rees is NOT allowed to be in unsupervised contact with children.
The court was informed that Rees had first deceived the authorities by claiming she discovered a deceased dog in the park, which she subsequently transported home and placed in a bag.
Upon the dog warden’s arrival to retrieve the remains, she acknowledged that Bell belonged to her and had been in her living room for the preceding year.
It was reported that before her death, the dog had grown so debilitated that she could neither walk nor stand.
Upon examination of the room, the dog warden noted a substantial accumulation of excrement of differing ages on the floor. An open bag of dog food and an empty water bowl were present.
The RSPCA was notified and initiated an inquiry into the circumstances of Bell’s demise.
RSPCA inspector Hannah Nixon said: “Bell was wearing a purple harness and a black collar. The collar was so loose around her neck, I could fit the width of my hand between her neck and the collar with at least half an inch to spare.
“The harness was spacious around her incredibly thin and skeletal body. Bell had a green coloured mucus discharge around her nose and eyes and was in appalling condition.”
A veterinary report stated: “A post mortem found Bell was in a severely emaciated body condition with serous atrophy of the fat deposits in both the coronary groove and within the bone marrow of the long bones, which a commonly considered to be the final sources of fat reserves to be consumed in emaciation.
“The post mortem found no underlying disease that would have explained the poor body condition with the broncho-pneumonia occurring after the onset of the emaciation. In fact, broncho-pneumonia is widely reported to be a common end result of severe emaciation due to the failure of the immune system and in this case it would appear that this is the actual cause of death for Bell.
“In this case from the post-mortem there is no disease process identified to account for the emaciation. This would indicate that the cause was inadequate provision of food. Whilst it is noted that there was food available within the living room, which had not been eaten by Bell, it is likely that once she developed the broncho-pneumonia that her appetite would have failed.
“Equally the development of the broncho-pneumonia is likely to be concurrent with Bell being unable to stand and walk hence she may well have been unable to access the food once it was provided and this may explain why the food was not consumed.
“She should have been taken to the vets as a matter of urgency to investigate why she was either not eating or eating but losing weight.”
Cherie Rees was sentenced to a 12-month community order with 25 Rehabilitation Activity Requirement days and £140 fine and £114 surcharge.
Cherie Rees received a 10 year disqualification from owning animals but can appeal after five years.
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