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Case #4926 Rating: 3.5 out of 5
Hoarding - 352 animals seized
Norfolk, EN (UK)Incident Date: Monday, Jun 13, 2005
Disposition: Convicted
Defendants/Suspects:
» Elizabeth King
» Beryl Barker
Case Updates: 3 update(s) available
More than 350 animals have been found at residential premises in Norfolk. The 131 dogs, 48 cats, 80 rabbits and 86 guinea pigs were found at a property in Cromer on June 13.
A spokeswoman said two people had been cautioned by the RSPCA and vets were examining the animals. She said some of them may have to be put down.
"This is one of the biggest numbers of animals we have ever found at one location," she said.
"Due to the condition in which they were found, some of the animals are likely to be euthanised."
Officials said an investigation was now under way and inspectors were gathering evidence about the background to the discovery of the 352 animals.
The caution, made under the Animal Welfare Act, amounted only to a warning that an investigation had begun and a criminal prosecution could follow, the spokeswoman said.
The RSPCA has not given the exact location of where the animals were found, nor whether they were living in a house or a farm.
A holding centre has been set up to deal with the large volume of animals.
"It is too early to say whether or not any of the animals will be available to be rehomed at this stage," said the spokeswoman.
Case UpdatesA woman who kept more than 300 animals in "chaos", allowing many of them to suffer, was yesterday banned from keeping animals for life - except for a few dogs described as "her family".
Elizabeth King was sentenced for a string of cruelty offences by Cromer magistrates who heard she and her friend Beryl Barker kept the dogs, cats, rabbits and guinea pigs in often appalling conditions.
King was also sentenced for running a pet shop without a licence in the centre of Cromer.
Magistrates heard a baffling array of cages, hutches, pens and aviaries was found by RSPCA staff during a June raid on Water Tower Farm in Trimingham, home to King and Barker.
Both defendants previously admitted six charges each of causing unnecessary suffering to a sample of 21 animals. Barker was sentenced in February, but King's sentence was held over until yesterday because the unlicensed pet shop charge had to be resolved in a trial at the end of March.
Prosecutor Jonathan Eales said animals were found with cat flu, their eyes sealed with puss, with dental disease, discharge from their noses and eyes and other illnesses. A video shown to the court showed many of the animals were kept in cages with soiled bedding, with no water or dirty water and, said Mr Eales, "living in their own excreta".
However Mr Eales said King had not only co-operated with the RSPCA, but had never been guilty of "wanton, deliberate or malicious cruelty".
Ann-Marie Gregory, defending King, said both women had been unable to cope and "overwhelmed" with the number of animals in their care.
"If the numbers are kept low, these ladies have a great deal of experience. The RSPCA is supporting the fact they should not be deprived of all animals. If you restrict the numbers they are fine. These animals are her family."
Both the prosecution and defence said they wished to support the idea of allowing King to keep the six dogs she has, while being banned from keeping any other animals.
Magistrates told King she could keep the six dogs, but when they died she would be allowed a maximum of two dogs. Other than these animals, she would be banned from keeping animals for life.
She was banned from running a pet shop for 10 years.
They said King's previous convictions for animal cruelty in 1992 and 1993 were being treated as "spent" because of their age.
King was also sentenced to a total of 200 hours of community work and told to pay £140 compensation to the RSPCA. This figure was only a fraction of what the RSPCA had asked for because of the difficulty King would have paying, including the fact she had recently been made bankrupt. | Source: EDP24 - April 29, 2006
Update posted on May 1, 2006 - 6:18PM |
A woman convicted of keeping hundreds of animals in "chaotic" conditions at a Norfolk farm was running a pet shop without a licence at the same time, a court has heard. The crime came to light in a sting operation by an undercover council officer who bought a budgie from Elizabeth King at the pet supply shop she owned in Cromer. On March 24, 2006, magistrates at Cromer put off sentencing for the offence, along with six counts of cruelty to animals that King admitted at an earlier hearing. But they warned the 53-year-old, from Water Tower Farm, Trimingham, near Cromer, that she "may go to prison".
King denied a charge of running Cromer Pet Stuff, on Church Street, as a pet shop without a licence, which costs £48.50. Emma Duncan, prosecuting, said animals, including guinea pigs, rabbits, budgies and Burmese kittens, were being advertised for sale at the shop, and King's telephone numbers were given as contacts for some of them. She said the adverts included a promise that if someone bought a rabbit hutch or a cage, they would get an animal for free. On June 1, 2005, Nicola Davison, assistant licensing officer at North Norfolk District Council, visited the shop for a "test purchase". Mrs Davison said: "I was asked to visit the premises because there were budgies in a cage for sale. "There was one male and one female budgie. I said I would like to buy the male, and I handed over £12.50 and asked for and was given a receipt." She said she arranged to collect the bird the following day, but when she arrived King's assistant was looking after the shop and King had "car trouble" and could not get to the shop to deliver the budgie. Mrs Davison then arranged for the bird to be delivered to "a family member's house", but returned later to get a refund.
Ms Duncan said the transaction amounted to a sale, and was a breach of the 1951 pet animals act.
Ann-Marie Gregory, defending, said the shop only sold pet accessories, and the budgies were on the premises "for display purposes only". King said she did not sell one of the budgies to Mrs Davison, but instead offered to go to a pet store in Norwich the following day to buy her one "out of the goodness of my heart". She said some of the notices about animals for sale were put up by her friends. Her telephone numbers were on those notices because she knew a lot about the animals and could help prospective buyers.
King said: "I was doing her a favour to get her a budgie from Fido's. I thought I was being helpful. "The budgies at the shop were not for sale. I don't sell animals. I don't believe in impulse buying of animals."
Sentence was adjourned until April 28, 2006.
They will also sentence King at the same time for the six counts of cruelty, which came out of an RSPCA raid on Water Tower Farm last year, when 352 animals were found squeezed into kennels, pens, aviaries and cages.
Beryl Barker, 72, who lives with King, had also admitted the same six charges at the previous hearing on February 16, 2006. She was dealt with at the time, and given a three-year conditional discharge and a lifetime ban from keeping animals. An appeal against the lifetime ban will be heard at Norwich Crown Court on April 21, 2006. | Source: Norwich Evening News - March 25, 2006
Update posted on Mar 30, 2006 - 6:02PM |
Two women have been charged with causing unnecessary suffering to more than 350 animals following a high-profile raid.
Hundreds of dogs, cats, rabbits and guinea pigs were seized from a North Norfolk smallholding earlier this summer in one of the biggest ever operations in the country.
The RSPCA confirmed that Elizabeth King, 53, and Beryl Barker, 72, both of Broadwood Close, Trimingham, near Cromer, will appear before magistrates later this month.
King faces 44 charges of causing unnecessary suffering to 352 animals under the Protection of Animals Act. Barker is accused of 42 counts of causing unnecessary suffering to the 133 dogs, 45 cats, 52 rabbits, and 122 guinea pigs.
Sophie Wilkinson, for the RSPCA, said the charges related to animal living conditions and not seeking veterinary treatment.
RSPCA inspectors and North Norfolk District Council officers descended on Water Tower Farm, Trimingham, on June 13 to recover the animals. The operation took 16 hours and involved 30 officers.
All the rescued animals, apart from the rabbits, have been re-homed following a "phenomenal" response from animal lovers.
Hundreds of people from as far afield as Hertfordshire, London and the South East flocked to the Block Fen Animal Centre, in March, Cambridgeshire, to adopt the small breed dogs. The RSPCA had to turn many away because of the high demand.
The two women will appear before Cromer Magistrates' Court at 2.15pm on September 30. The case is anticipated to be adjourned following a plea hearing. | Source: EDP24 - Sept 1, 2005
Update posted on Sep 1, 2005 - 2:10PM |
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