SA dog breeder fails in Supreme Court bid to have 23 seized pomeranians returned

[asal]

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SA dog breeder fails in Supreme Court bid to have 23 seized pomeranians returned

Nigel Hunt, The Advertiser

May 21, 2018 3:04pm

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A MID-NORTH dog breeder has lost a Supreme Court bid to have 23 of her prize pomeranian dogs that were seized by the RSPCA returned to her care.

Breeder Dora Ryan — who claims she has been unfairly targeted by the RSPCA following complaints by rivals — launched the unusual action after disputing her dogs were seized legitimately by inspectors.

But while Chief Justice Chris Kourakis said Ms Ryan “appears to have a strong case’’ for the return of her pomeranians if she attended to some care issues — such as flea infestations and minor dental hygiene — he declined her application.

Ms Ryan, whose property is at Baroota, in the mid-north of the state, is facing trial in Adelaide Magistrates Court on 28 charges of ill-treating an animal. She also faces a charge of hindering or obstructing an RSPCA inspector and a person assisting — by locking them in a dog holding pen.

Besides the charges, the RSPCA is seeking orders that any animals still owned by Ms Ryan be surrendered and that she be banned from having custody of any animals in future.

The charges stem from a raid on her property in May last year when the pomeranians, four german shepherds and 23 chickens were seized by inspectors.

The german shepherds were destroyed because of age-related arthritis and all of the chickens, except two that died of causes unrelated to the way they were kept, were returned.

Breeder Dora Ryan with one of her pomeranians. Picture: Supplied

While inspectors seized a large number of dogs, another 15 german shepherds, eight great danes and 12 pomeranians were examined and left at the property. Several subsequent visits resulted in the RSPCA issuing Ms Ryan with notices to ensure large pens were cleaned.

Ms Ryan, who is seeking almost $100,000 in compensation from the RSPCA over the seizure in a civil claim, told The Advertiser the pomeranians were “her family’’ and denied they had been mistreated or neglected in any way.

“The RSPCA’s own medical reports state the dogs are healthy and not underweight,’’ she said.

“They took my girls from me, what does that tell you? This was done only to stop me from breeding.

“My animals are my family and life and also my occupation and income.’’

Ms Ryan said she had been successfully breeding dogs since 2007 and complied with all council regulations. She had also imported 12 dogs from the United States in 2014 that had rare colours and breeding lines compared with Australian pomeranians.

In his judgment Chief Justice Kourakis noted a medical report by RSPCA veterinary surgeon Dr Emma Clough, who examined the dogs the day after they were seized and found all dogs had achieved a Body Condition Score of 4.5/9 or above, with two achieving a 6/9 score.

 

Chief Justice Kourakis said veterinary surgeon Dr Roger Absalom supported the return of the dogs to Ms Ryan. And another veterinary surgeon who examined the seized dogs after they had been in RSPCA care for five months, Dr Michael Adams, said in an affidavit that seven of the dogs had mild dental disease and five had moderate dental disease “generally consistent with age’’ and he also supported the return of the dogs to Ms Ryan.

“The intervention of the RSPCA in a case in which the pomeranian dogs were ‘adequately healthy’, their BCS in the ideal range and were described by Dr Smart (a vet who accompanied inspectors on the raid) as adequately healthy, is surprising,’’ Chief Justice Kourakis said.

The criminal case, before Magistrate Maria Panagiotidis, is set for a directions hearing next month.

Edited May 23, 2018 by asal