THREE puppies died after Fleetwood woman Tracey Stutchfield kept them in the worst conditions a vet had ever seen, a court heard.
Shop supervisor Stutchfield, 31, a mother of three, of Eden Avenue, admitted four offences of causing unnecessary suffering to an animal. She was fined £400 with £600 costs and banned from keeping a dog for 20 years by Blackpool magistrates.
One pu
ppy was dead when an RSPCA inspector called and two other puppies had to be put down.
Jonathan Fail, prosecuting for the RSPCA, said that on October 11 last year, an RSPCA inspector called at the defendant's home and found five German shepherd-type dogs in a 4ft section of a wash house covered in dog faeces.
One of the puppies was dead. The two other puppies later had to be put down by a vet and were subsequently diagnosed as having Parvo Virus. There was no food or water. All the pups were thin with their bones showing.
The prosecutor said: "The vet said he had never seen dogs kept in such bad conditions."
John Muir, defending, said Stutchfield was going through marriage difficulties. She had split up with her husband. The mortgage was in arrears, she was working and also had the three children.
He added: "She accepts the standard of care she gave at this time was far below what it should have been."
Presiding magistrate Ann Digman said: "This is the worst case of its kind I have ever come across."
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