22 May 2000

Sanctuary Owner Banned for 10 Years

A woman who kept 129 animals in a shed at her animal rescue sanctuary has been banned for 10 years from keeping animals. Glynis Richardson, 54, of Scarborough, Yorkshire, was also sentenced to 150 hours community service after being found guilty of 14 animal cruelty charges. Richardson was prosecuted by the RSPCA who inspected the sanctuary in East Sussex last August. During the trial at Brighton magistrates court in April, the court heard how the animals, were being kept in squalid conditions in cages stacked from floor to ceiling. The animals in the shed included birds, kittens and guinea pigs, Richardson claimed she had been treating the animals with homeopathic remedies, including garlic and lavender oils, but RSPCA inspectors said there was no evidence of proper care and that Richardson had caused unnecessary suffering. Brighton magistrate Stuart Fisher told Richardson: "You were not found guilty because you used homeopathic remedy but because we felt the standard of care and attention you gave was not that which a reasonable person would believe proper and necessary." After the hearing the RSPCA inspector who led the inquiry, Cora Moore, said: "The whole place was utterly filthy. There was no evidence of any appropriate care at all. Six of the allegations of animal cruelty against Richardson related to guinea pigs suffering from mange and self-trauma with ulcerated wounds on their backs. Three kittens had cat flu and were emaciated, 20 finches that were kept in a very small cage had begun plucking each other's feathers out and a quail had a distended abdomen. A series of post mortem examinations carried out revealed the quail had an egg stuck in its ovary duct and a pigeon had an untreated broken left leg. Richardson plans to appeal against her conviction.