WOULD HE HAVE BEEN PROSECUTED FOR POISIONING RATS TOO ?
HOW MANY ANIMALS DO THE RSPCA KILL EVERY YEAR ?
A GRANDDAD has been ordered to pay almost £1,000 by a court after a cat died from eating poison he put out at his allotment to kill rats.
James Scarr, 61, left out the mixture in the hope of killing vermin at the site - but did not intend to kill the cat, a court heard.
James Scarr, 61, left out the mixture in the hope of killing vermin at the site - but did not intend to kill the cat, a court heard.
Magistrates in Peterlee heard another allotment-holder found the black and white cat "in a state of collapse" just minutes before it died in front of him.
The stray cat had been seen regularly around the allotments over the previous 10 months and had recently given birth to a litter of kittens.
Denise Jackman, prosecuting on behalf of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA), said the man noticed the cat with saliva on its face and front legs and rushed to its aid."At that point she died in front of him", Miss Jackman told Peterlee magistrates.
The gardener looked around the site, at Holm Hill allotments in Easington Colliery, and discovered the fish mixture.
The RSPCA and police became involved and inquiries led to Scarr.
An autopsy was carried out on the cat and a vet ruled that the substance had "interfered with the transmission of signals by the nervous system, resulting in paralysis, which affects the muscles used for breathing and the animal would have been unable to breath and asphyxiated". Miss Jackman asked justices to consider disqualifying Scarr from keeping animals.
Scarr, admitted causing unnecessary suffering to a protected animal on April 13, last year.
Neil Bennett, mitigating, said there was a serious rat problem at the allotments and Scarr never intended to hurt the cat.
He added he pleaded guilty on the basis he was not aware of the risk that cats would stray onto the allotments.
Chairman of the magistrates' bench Keith King fined Scarr £350 with £590 costs and a £15 victim surcharge.Scarr was not disqualified from keeping animals.
After the hearing, Scarr said: "It's a relief that I can keep my dog and it has been a nightmare having this hanging over me."I have never hurt an animal in my life. I don't go out to intentionally hurt animals and I would never do it knowingly.
If I could go back in time I would take the stuff myself."
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