A man from Cardiff who failed to get treatment for his dog as an orthopaedic metal plate became exposed in her leg has been given an 18-week prison sentence in December, suspended for two years. The man had been found guilty of causing unnecessary suffering to the dog, Luna, on 7 July 2022.
The prosecution by the RSPCA came after the animal welfare charity previously about the incident. The charity’s inspector, Julie Fadden, visited Glyndwr Road on 4 November 2021 and was told by a man who answered the door that “there were no whippets or lurchers with leg injuries at the property”. Another man then appeared and said there was a dog in a cage in the back garden with an old leg injury but she was “fine”.
Inspector Fadden asked to see the dog. She later said, “I saw a grey whippet/lurcher type bitch in a kennel with a run. The dog was grey with white markings and had an exposed metal plate showing, attached to the bone on her right foreleg. The dog was holding her right front foreleg up and I could smell the distinctive smell of infection coming from it, even from a distance.”
She added, “The dog was lean and I could see her ribs and spine. The kennel was dark and dirty with some faeces within and there was no comfortable resting area.”
Upon being asked when Luna had been seen by a vet, one of them men replied she had seen a vet “recently”. He added the accident to her leg had happened two months earlier, and named the dog’s owner, Michael Mountstephens, who was not at the property as Fadden’s visit took place. Neither man present knew which vet Luna had been seen by.
“Inspector Fadden told the men that Luna needed urgent veterinary treatment and they both eventually agreed to this after the officer explained that she would otherwise be returning with the police,” a RSPCA statement reads. “A vet who examined Luna later that day said the presence of the orthopaedic plate was extremely obvious and her owner was responsible for ongoing serious neglect.”
The vet said, “Luna was mildly lame, being unable to bear some weight on the right foreleg which indicates this was causing pain. It is very likely due to the appearance of the skin surrounding the exposed plate that this wound/exposed bone had been present for a prolonged period, potentially weeks to months, prior to presentation. This would have led to a prolonged period of suffering.”
Police were called to attend the veterinary practice and seized Luna, passing her into the care of the RSPCA. Despite earlier claims that Luna had been dumped at the property and did not belong to the man named as her owner, it later emerged that he was indeed her owner, and that he had first taken her to the vet when she originally hurt her leg – but failed to return as the leg wound opened up again. No vets in the Cardiff area had any records of having operated on Luna.
Mountstephens did not contact the RSPCA despite being asked to do so several times, and Luna was eventually rehomed. In addition to the prison sentence – which was suspended due to his “caring responsibilities” – he was banned from keeping any animals for 12 months and ordered to pay costs of £500.
Speaking after the case, RSPCA inspector Christine McNeil, who fostered Luna during her rehabilitation before she was adopted by another family, said, “It was lovely to be able to care for Luna and help her recover from what was a really dreadful ordeal.
“We started off with short walks to build up the strength in her leg, and her loving, friendly and sociable nature shone through. She liked nothing more than snoozing on my sofa and trying out all my soft furnishings, and I’m so pleased that she’s doing well in her new home.”
