A man who neglected six dogs at his South East London home has been given an indefinite ban from keeping animals after a prosecution by the RSPCA.
A dead Rhodesian Ridgeback, called Reggie, and two deceased Ridgeback puppies were discovered at Kris Kesson’s home when the RSPCA and police visited on February 28 last year. Three other Ridgebacks, including the mother of the two puppies, were also found either underweight or emaciated at the property.
Kesson, (D.o.B 22/7/1964), of Rydal Drive, Bexleyheath, pleaded guilty to four offences under the Animal Welfare Act 2006 and was sentenced at Woolwich Crown Court on April 22. As well as the disqualification the defendant was handed a 30-week prison sentence, which was suspended for 12 months. As part of the order he was told to complete 10 Rehabilitation Activity Requirement (RAR) days and he was placed under an electronically-monitored curfew at his home address for six months.
The court heard the dogs were living in dreadful conditions at Kesson’s home where carpets were left sodden with urine and faeces and there was a mice infestation. It was said that Kesson rarely took the dogs out of the property.
RSPCA Animal Rescue Officer (ARO) Tia Pennant, who attended the defendant’s home with RSPCA Inspector David Grant, said one of the Ridgebacks, called Alice, the mother of the puppies, was emaciated with all of her ribs, spine and hip bone showing. Ridgebacks Max, who was in an emaciated condition, and Ozzy, who was very underweight, were both suffering with flea infestations and had fur loss towards their rears which had scabbed over.
The animal rescue officer said Reggie, whose skinny corpse was discovered in the living room had been dead for a couple of days and the defendant claimed he was waiting to bury him in the garden when “rigor mortis set in”. One of the two dead puppies was found sprawled on the top of a settee.
The other canines were seized by the police and taken into the care of the RSPCA. Sadly, Ozzy and Max were in such poor health that they died within a fortnight of them being taken from the defendant.
A veterinary report stated that both the dead puppies, who were around two months old, were emaciated with body condition scores of one out of 10 (when five is an ideal weight). Reggie had a body condition score of two to three. The vet said it was not possible to determine the cause of death of the deceased dogs found at the defendant’s property as no post-mortems were carried out.
But post-mortems on the two seized dogs who later passed away revealed that Ozzy’s cause of death was due to gastric dilation (bloat) and Max died from an acute bacterial pneumonia caused by Kennel Cough. The vet concluded the condition of both dogs was due to inadequate nutrition.
“The decline and death of the two puppies, the death of the adult dog and the decline of the other dogs presents to me a picture of neglect. I am in no doubt that without the intervention of the RSPCA the other dogs would have died alongside those that had already passed away,” said the vet.
In mitigation, the court was told that Kesson suffers from mental health problems and memory issues. The defendant will not be able to appeal his ban for at least 10 years.
Alice recovered from her ordeal and has since been rehomed by the RSPCA.
Speaking after the sentencing RSPCA Inspector Clive Hopwood said: “The degree of emaciation of these dogs would have been apparent to any owner and it was lucky we visited the defendant’s home when we did as the other dogs may have died at his home.”
