A couple who imported 4,600 dogs from overseas over a 15-month period have been given suspended prison sentences and disqualified from keeping animals after police and RSPCA officers removed 160 animals from their rescue centre and veterinary clinic in Lincolnshire.
Jodie Fairbrother, 40, and Paul Fairbrother, 50, appeared at Grimsby Magistrates’ Court on Thursday (September 12) to be sentenced for a string of offences under the Animal Welfare Act.
At a previous hearing last month, Jodie Fairbrother pleaded guilty to six offences of causing unnecessary suffering and four offences of failing to meet the needs of animals in their care. At the same hearing, Paul Fairbrother admitted three offences.
Jodie Fairbrother was sentenced to 18 weeks in prison, suspended for 12 months, and banned from keeping or trading in animals for five years. Paul Fairbrother was sentenced to 12 weeks in prison, suspended for 12 months, and was also banned from keeping or trading in animals for five years. Both were ordered to pay £500 costs each and a £115 victim surcharge each.
RSPCA officers joined Humberside Police as they executed a warrant at 4Paws, in South Killingholme, in March last year. 4Paws operated an unlicensed boarding kennels after their licence expired and a veterinary clinic but its main business was importing street dogs from Romania to rehome in the UK.
LETHAL
In one of the largest RSPCA operations yet, more than 60 staff from multiple agencies worked throughout the day to remove a total of 160 animals – 144 dogs and 16 cats, which were then taken in by the RSPCA and Dogs Trust.
The body of one dog was found in the onsite clinic. It was later discovered the dog had distemper, a lethal viral disease. Three further dogs had to be put to sleep, two of which had Brucella canis – a serious contagious disease that can be passed onto humans – and one tested positive for distemper.
The investigation into 4Paws was led by the RSPCA’s Special Operations Unit. The officer who led the probe said: “We launched an investigation after intelligence from a number of sources that dogs were being imported from Romania without the proper health or biosecurity checks. We were also told that the animals were being kept in wholly unsuitable and inadequate conditions at the 4Paws site in Lincolnshire.”
When officers raided the property they found many of the animals kept in cramped kennels and cages with no access to food or water. Other dogs were found living in crates that were too small, stacked on top of each other and lying in their own filth, the RSPCA said.
SERIOUS DISEASES
All of the animals had to be taken straight into quarantine and underwent a series of tests to check for numerous serious diseases while others needed medical treatments for untreated conditions and problems.
Officers removed 183 pet passports on the day of the warrant. Investigations revealed that the Fairbrothers had imported 4,600 dogs between January 2017 and March 2018.
Head of SOU Grainne Casey said: “Importing street dogs from abroad to rehome here in the UK brings about many challenges, many of which were evident from this operation.
“Many of these dogs had not had the necessary legal checks they needed to enter the country, meaning they had the potential to be carrying serious diseases such as rabies.
“As well as the major health risks these dogs posed to the general public and wider dog population, many of the animals in 4Paws’ care were not having their basic needs met while under their care. It was an extremely upsetting situation to see these dogs – who’d all already been through so much in their lives – living in such squalor.”
CHARITIES
All of the cats were signed over into RSPCA care by the Fairbrothers. A number of the dogs were signed over and many had been reserved by prospective owners or belonged to other organisations. A lot of work was done to find the owners/adopters and pass the dogs into their care. The rest remained in the care of the charities while the case went through court.
Most of the dogs and cats have now been rehomed – including a number of dogs that were handed over to their owners who’d already placed deposits on them via 4Paws.
