Emaciated pigs at Wyton lead to 10 year ban

UNITED KINGDOM -- A smallholder has been banned from keeping livestock for 10 years and given a four month suspended prison sentence for causing suffering to pigs.

Pigs at Dominic Flitney’s premises at Wyton were suffering from chronic malnutrition and animal carcases and decomposing poultry were also found by inspectors, magistrates at Huntingdon heard.

Flitney, 28, of Meadow How, St Ives, admitted offences under the Animal Welfare Act 2006 as well as offences relating to the failure to dispose of animal by-products and failing to notify the authorities about a dead farm animal.

 

He was also ordered to pay £1,000 costs following the prosecution by Cambridgeshire County Council’s Trading Standards department.

The conviction followed an inspection of his livestock in March by Trading Standards officers when they found one emaciated sow which was suckling eight piglets and one underweight sow, neither of which had access to food and water.

A vet found the animals suffering from “chronic malnutrition”. Animal carcases, decomposing poultry remains and other animal by-products where also found in the yard, having been there for three months.

The court heard that Flitney had failed to comply with essential record-keeping requirements that enable animals to be traced in the event of an outbreak of disease and to make sure they do not have veterinary medicines in their system at the time of slaughter.

Trading Standards had been monitoring Flitney since December last year and he had been given advice on the need to provide food, bedding and water for his animals and to dispose of carcases in line with the regulations, as well as the need to keep accurate records.

Cllr Mathew Shuter, county council cabinet member for enterprise and skills, said: “This case again reaffirms that we will not tolerate animal cruelty on farms and smallholdings in Cambridgeshire, being the second such case we have brought before the courts in the last month.

“It also demonstrates that we will take decisive action if our officers persistently find record-keeping requirements have not been met, with such requirements being vital to reducing the impact of an animal disease outbreak - an occurrence that would be devastating for our rural economy and wider communities.”

(Cambridge News-Nov 6, 2013)