Magistrate convicts farmer of ill-treating sheep in a warning to the livestock industry to improve animal welfare standards
By <a href="mailto:bgardiner@acpmagazines.com.au“>Brad Gardiner | December 14, 2010
The livestock industry has been put on notice over its approach to animal welfare standards after a farmer was convicted of ill-treating sheep.
Leonard Sam Newton was convicted and fined $5000 in the Magistrates Court of South Australia after 46 of his 750 sheep transported from Mt Ive to the Dublin Livestock Exchange died in April last year.
Magistrate Clive Kitchin found that the animals spent about eight hours in crates before being unloaded into a yard with no food or water. The sheep had not been given water for up to 36 hours before being transported.
“In my opinion this is a serious offence of its kind. It is important that both the defendant and others who have control of large flocks of sheep are deterred from adopting a cavalier attitude to the welfare of those animals,” Kitchin says.
“This is a matter where there is a public interest in recording a conviction to express community disapproval of the defendant’s actions.”
Kitchin was also critical of the transport operator, questioning why it was not hauled before court to face charges.
“It seems somewhat anomalous in my opinion that the transport operator has not been called to account for his involvement in this matter in addition to the defendant,” he says.
“After all, it appears that most of the sheep that perished did so whilst they were being transported.”
Kitchin rejected comments made by Newton to an RSPCA inspector that he did not have an alternative to transporting the sheep because the truck driver had arrived and was ready to go.
“The preferences of the transport industry cannot and must not be seen as an excuse to avoid the responsibilities arising from the terms of the Animal Welfare Act,” he says.
However, Kitchin added that it is the responsibility of consignors to ensure livestock are in a fit condition to travel.
“If it appears after a proper assessment of the condition of the animals concerned that they are not fit to travel, then a simple phone call to the transport operator is all that is required to postpone the transport. To continue in spite of that assessment is a clear breach of the Act,” he says.
Newton faced a maximum fine of $20,000 and two years’ jail for what Kitchin described as a “reckless disregard for his responsibilities”. Newton was also ordered to pay the RSPCA’s $7000 legal bill.
Kitchin labelled it “inconceivable” that anyone involved in the care and control of sheep should not be fully aware of their obligations under the Act and the animal welfare code that exists in South Australia.
After it examined the animals, the RSPCA gave 250 of the sheep a score of one and the rest a score of two.
“A zero score represents skeletal condition and a score of five represents a fat sheep,” Kitchin says.
The RSPCA told the court Newton showed a lack of judgment but was not motivated by malice.
The court heard that the prosecution had a “devastating effect” on Newton, who is a four-year member of the RSPCA and had no history of offending.