UK Award Winning Dog Show Duo Charged With Animal Abuse
June 17, 2011 in Animal Control, Endangerment, Inhumane Practices, Legal News, News
Violet Humes, 71, and her daughter Shareem, 45, kept more than 100 dogs in 'appalling and shocking conditions'.
They were highly respected national champions and had even won at Crufts, the world’s largest dog show held annually in Birmingham, England.
Yet behind the scores of rosettes proudly hung around their home, their beloved pets were living in unimaginable squalor. Violet Humes, 71, and her daughter, Shareem, 45, were responsible for some of the worst kinds of animal cruelty.
A total of 104 dogs were discovered in cramped conditions and surrounded by their own feces when RSPCA officers raided the property in February last year. Some of the dogs were kept in filthy cages with no lighting, bedding or fresh water and some were injured or diseased, with untreated ailments.
After an exhaustive investigation lasting 16 months and costing taxpayers £68,000,
Humes and her daughter pleaded guilty to 23 animal welfare offenses. They were sentenced to three-year community service and a three-year conditional discharge.
Shockingly however, they were both allowed to keep five dogs each. It is believed that the judge’s decision was based on the fact that the women were capable of looking after animals if they had fewer numbers of them.
Humes, who has shown dogs for over 50 years and even won prizes while she was being prosecuted for her crimes, said: “It all got out of hand, we had too many dogs.”
The retired dog trimmer, who has shown dogs since she was 17, was adamant they could have rectified the situation themselves.
Of the 104 dogs found by the RSPCA, 89 were seized. Of those, a staggering 24 had to be destroyed. Among the dogs that were seized was a poodle named Crystal who had a broken jaw, advanced periodontal disease, heart disease, and limited access to fresh water.
Jonathan Lally, prosecuting for the Council, told the court that the RSPCA had begun inquiries after receiving a tip-off from a utilities worker who had visited the home.
The conditions that confronted them were “appalling and shocking”, he said.
At their sentencing, Judge Jonathan Durham Hall said 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.
Of the duo, a spokesperson for The Kennel Club, the organizers of Crufts, said: “We will always follow up relevant criminal convictions with an investigation and impose disciplinary penalties, if appropriate”.
Can dogs read our minds? Or have they simply learned to read our behavior?
