A British man who hoarded and slowly killed 17 pets — including dogs, cats, and rabbits — has only received a 10 year ban on keeping animals, after which he is apparently allowed to repeat this horrific tragedy. The photos obtained by the RSPCA representatives who entered this home tell just one part of an immensely dark story — rooms covered in dirt, dust, animal excrement, and who knows what else were also packed full of crates and boxes. Crammed into these enclosures were dogs, cats, and rabbits, all that had died excruciatingly and slowly from dehydration — a process that vets say takes about five agonizing days to kill an animal.
This individual is clearly not fit to own and care for any animal by himself, ever! Dogs and rabbits were trapped in cages and boxes in different states of decomposition. One dog’s limbs and body parts had been “scavenged” by other starving animals in the house along with maggots. Whatever this individual was going through that would bring them to inflict so much negligence, and therefore suffering, on these poor animals is tragic. And we trust that the court made the right decision in only sentencing him with fines and rehabilitation requirements. But a 10-year ban on owning animals just isn’t appropriate when this amount of agony and death was involved. This risk is just too high for any future pets that this person might obtain!