Court fines Funny Farm chairperson for animal cruelty

Funny Farm Horse Rescue centre chairman Sue Arnett has been fined €2,000 by Magistrate Miriam Haymann after being found guilty of having caused fived dogs under her care unnecessary pain, suffering of distress and left them without adequate food and water.

"The evidence tendered the prosecutions is in stark and cold contrast to that tendered by the accused [Arnett]," Haymann said as she laid down her judgment on Thursday morning.

"The photos exhibited by the independent witnesses and the Animal Welfare officers are a far cry from those presented by the accused. The state of the pens, the neglect portrayed and the amount of faeces present is not a question of a state reached within a day or two. The overall image is totally disgusting and deplorable."

Haymann said that while it was true that Arnett ran a voluntary organisation depending on funding generosity and time afforded by volunteers, yet lack of one or all of these elements could never justify neglect and cruelty towards animals.

"No excuse of a holiday justifies this," she said.

"Animals are a responsibility and should always be owed respect, everyday and every time of the day. If the Funny Farm cannot provide this, then it should sincerely think and consider its position, as an animal sanctuary, because the conditions evidenced and portrayed certainly offer none."

While fining Sue Arnett €2,000, the Magistrate also ordered the Animal Welfare Department to conduct frequent inspections in order to improve conditions of animals therein homed.

In 2009, five emaciated dogs were removed from the Bidnija centre during a raid by animal welfare officers. Three of the skinny dogs, some of them skeletal-looking, were reported to have been malnourished and the other two had sand fly.

Arnett, who pleaded not guilty to the charges brought against her, explained that she ran a horse rescue operation and provided shelter for horses, while taking in other animals such as stray dogs.

She denied that the dogs were being mistreated and cruelly kept, answering that all volunteers at the farm did their utmost to give the dogs a good quality of life. At the time, there were 27 dogs at the farm, hoping to rehome three of them once their condition improved, one having liver problems and the other two afflicted by sand fly.

When shown photos of dogs reported not to have adequate shelter and water at time of inspection, Arnett argued this only occurred because inspection happened at half past nine in the morning and the dogs were fed and cleaned in the afternoon.

She argued that the report with the Animal Welfare Department - whose investigation was triggered by telephone calls and an anonymous letter reporting animal cruelty - had been filed by a former volunteer who was picking on her because they had clashed.

Animal Welfare representative Emanuel Buhagiar testified in court that the dogs had no food or water and lived in a dirty environment.

Three of the five dogs were eventually homed while the other two were put down because of their poor health.

On-site inspection carried out reported horses found in good welfare condition, well fed and kept in clean shelters, but not the same could be said of the dogs.

According to the inspection, five dogs were found to be without food, kept in holding pens covered with faeces indicating that the pens were not cleaned on a daily basis.

Testifying in court, veterinarian Patrick Caruana described one black mongrel as a "skeleton" which had been locked in a room.

Wendy Monk, one of two witnesses who worked as volunteers at Funny Farm, told the court she believed Arnett was not using the money she raised from fund raising and donations to take proper care of the animals.

Testifying in court, Arnett said Funny Farm would take in dogs left outside their gates, mostly sick ones and denied the dogs would be underfed.

She argued that faeces were found onsite because she had just returned from a break abroad and she was cleaning horses, intending to clean the dog section in the afternoon. Arnett insisted that her father would go and take care of the animals while she was abroad.