UNITED KINGDOM -- A woman has been banned from keeping animals after she admitted causing unnecessary suffering to a guinea pig.
She admitted a total of three animal welfare charges following an appearance at Swansea Magistrates' Court.
Kirsty Davies, 22 , of Danygraig Road, Port Tennant, had abandoned the animal inside her home and the RSPCA were tipped off about its existence.
Prosecutor Jon Tarrant had told magistrates a social worker learned that she had lost the keys to her house a fortnight before and knew she had a guinea pig inside.
An RSPCA inspector went to the house and through a window saw the body of a white and brown guinea pig.
RSCPA inspector Neill Manley took some photographs and had to get a warrant to get inside.
Mr Tarrant said he discovered a strong decomposing smell and found the guinea pig laying dead with an empty water bottle, no food and a cage full of faeces.
He said the unsuitable cage was also too small for the pet to be kept in long-term.
A postmortem revealed the cause of death as being starvation.
The pet is said to have suffered for a minimum of two weeks.
Davies has now been banned from keeping any animal for five years.
The court heard she had fallen into a drug habit and lost her keys, leaving the pet inside.
A probation report presented to the court said she had suffered poor mental health but had now addressed them.
Magistrates handed her a 12-month community order and told her to pay costs of £400.
(This is South Wales - June 1, 2013)
