Insanity Knows No Class

It seems like just yesterday that some fool was telling me that cultured people who play dress up and chase rosettes at dog shows never abuse dogs, which is utter nonsense.

As I have noted many times before (see here and here and here, for examples), mental illness does not know income, race, sex, religion, class or dog breed, and canine abuse is systemic at dog shows, especially among the brachycephalic breeds.

Today's example of mental illness and/or canine neglect and abuse comes from the Telegraph & Argus and involves a pair of ladies breeding Crufts-winning dachshunds, as well as poodles and Yorkies:

A Crufts-winning mother and daughter have been sentenced for “appalling and shocking” neglect after a total of 104 dogs were found at a Bradford house.

Bradford Crown Court heard that the animals were kept in cramped and squalid conditions – some in cages – at the home of showing champions Violet and Shareem Humes.

Of the 89 dogs seized, 24 had to be destroyed in what was the biggest animal welfare case faced by Bradford Council.

Council officers teamed with police, a vet and the RSPCA to raid the house in Pine Street on February 3 and 4 last year when a search warrant was executed by Terry Singh, the Council’s dog animal services manager.

Jonathan Lally, prosecuting for the Council, said the sheer number of dogs that needed to be re-housed was the only reason why some had to be left at the dirty and foul-smelling terrace house.

He told the court that conditions at the house were “appalling and shocking”.

Yesterday Violet Humes, 71, and Shareem Humes, 45, pleaded guilty to 23 animal welfare offences.

They included ten charges of causing unnecessary suffering to a dog, 12 of failing to take steps to meet the needs of an animal and one of keeping a breeding establishment for dogs without a licence.

The women had already admitted five charges under the Veterinary Medicine Regulations.

Mr Lally said unauthorised drugs found at the house included Oxytocin, a hormone used to stimulate uterine contractions. A vet stated that the amount seized represented a 20-year supply for his small animal practice. Other drugs found included Parovax, a pig vaccine not marketed in the UK.

Mr Lally said the house was “extremely unhygienic” with dog faeces throughout.

The defendants’ barrister, Emma Downing, said they were highly regarded national champions and the court case had shocked the dog-showing community.

They were each allowed to keep five dogs and they wanted three back from the Council, including Zorro, valued at £5,000.

Miss Dowing said: “This isn’t a case of actual cruelty. It is about the sheer number of dogs.”

But Judge Jonathan Durham Hall refused to allow the dogs to be returned, saying it would be a “ludicrous result of wrongdoing”.

They were each sentenced to a three-year community order and a three-year conditional discharge and barred from keeping more than five dogs each.

And, of course, the Kennel Club has announced that they will continue to allow these women to show their dogs, proving once again that they are a tower of Jello and as principled as a pedophile.

The judge added that the women ran ‘an unlicensed breeding machine’ and branded them ‘deluded or simply out of control’. But he stopped short of banning them from owning dogs.

Instead, the pair were each allowed to keep five dogs and will continue showing them.

Last night, a spokesperson for The Kennel Club, the organisers of Crufts, said: ‘We will always follow up relevant criminal convictions with an investigation and impose disciplinary penalties, if appropriate.

‘However, we are always obliged to await the outcome and absolute conclusion of the respective criminal proceedings, including any appeals, before taking any steps.  ‘At the conclusion of any such investigation any decision is always confirmed and published.’

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