This concerns the UK. A married couple who left their pets at home alone while they went on a two-week holiday have been banned from keeping animals for 12 years.
When the RSPCA inspected the home of David Wicks, 41, and his wife Zara, 38, in Chessington, Surrey, on September 6 last year they found one emaciated cat dead. Another cat and dog were hungry and neglected. The couple admitted animal welfare charges at Wimbledon magistrates Court.
Mr Hicks had previously tried to blame his mother-in-law, claiming that she was meant to care for the animals. The couple were also given suspended sentences.
The source of this article is the times newspaper on Saturday, March 25 2017. I don’t have photos.
Comment: To any decent cat lover this story is astonishing. Perhaps what Mr Hicks has said is true and that he did try and make arrangements for his mother-in-law to look after the cats and dog while away on holiday. However, the court decided that that was a feeble excuse and that they simply neglected to make arrangements. That being the case, it is baffling to me how somebody could do this. How could a person have a good holiday knowing that their cats and dog are starving to death at the same time.
Well, the already emaciated dead cat tells me the whole story. They cared little for their pets. No cat becomes emaciated in 2 weeks’ time.
This couple had no business with any animal.
The mother-in-law story doesn’t fly with me either.
If they had truly cared, they would have hired a reliable person to caregive.
Lock ’em up!
If they really cared they’d have made sure their companion animals were looked after. That’s what I think.
Thanks. I could have done that myself!