Animals ban for woman who kept cats and dogs in ‘disgusting’ conditions

Animals ban for woman who kept cats and dogs in ‘disgusting’ conditions

A woman has been banned from owning animals for life after keeping scores of cats and dogs in “filthy” pens at her home.

Janet Oxlade was spared jail after admitting 10 offences under the Animal Welfare Act when 38 dogs and 18 cats were rescued during a raid at her home in Grazeley Close, Bexleyheath, Kent, in January.

The 67-year-old was handed a suspended 20-week prison sentence at Bexley Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday, the RSPCA said.

The RSPCA and Metropolitan Police officers searched the property after receiving a flurry of calls from members of the public in the run-up to Christmas last year complaining puppies they bought were unwell.

Officers found animals – including boxers, Newfoundlands, dachshunds, shih tzus, French bulldogs, basset hounds as well as puppies and kittens – locked in makeshift runs in the garden which were dirty and wet or kept in crates in the house, the charity said.

A Newfoundland had such badly deformed legs it could not walk.

One of the 18 cats that were kept by Janet Oxlade
One of the 18 cats that were kept by Janet Oxlade (RSPCA/PA)

Pedigree cats were found living in cramped pens, with two adults and one kitten inside a pen the size of a small rabbit hutch.

Inside the house, two large dogs were found shut inside a rubbish-strewn conservatory while smaller breeds were crammed into tiny puppy pens or pet carriers in the kitchen and utility room.

One of the rescued dachshunds died of the contagious and deadly parvovirus on Christmas Day.

A vet present during the raid said these were some of the worst conditions he had ever seen, describing the matted coats as like “armour-plating”, the animal charity said.

One of the pens
One of the pens that held animals kept by Janet Oxlade (RSPCA/PA)

Fellow inspector Carroll Lamport said Oxlade had been reported to the RSPCA several times over the years but previously refused to let officers into the property and there was never enough evidence to prosecute.

She said: “People became suspicious of her as they were never allowed outside of the living room of the home – which was kept in pristine condition – and couldn’t see the conditions the animals were being kept in.

“These dogs were living amongst absolute chaos, there was filth everywhere and many of the animals had no access to water.

“Away from all of this mayhem, the living room was kept in absolutely pristine condition. We suspect this is the room in which members of the public were invited to meet their new puppy in order to convince them that the dogs were raised in high-quality conditions.

“The truth of what lay beyond that living room door was far from the image they painted to the public.”

All the animals have been cared for by the RSPCA and some have already been rehomed.

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