St Ives: Man Found Guilty For Pig Cruelty

6 November 2013, 11:49 | Updated: 6 November 2013, 11:59

A man from St Ives has been found guilty of causing suffering to pigs and given a four month suspended sentence.

Dominic Flitney, 28, of Meadow How, in St Ives, was found guilty of offences under the Animal Welfare Act 2006, as well as offences relating to the failure to dispose of Animal By Products and failure to notify the authorities about a dead farm animal.

The prosecution at Huntingdon Magistrates Court, which was brought by Cambridgeshire County Council's Trading Standards, also resulted in a 10 year ban on keeping livestock and costs of £1,000 for Flitney. The sentence of four months in total was suspended for 12 months.

The conviction follows an inspection made to his livestock at Wyton by Trading Standards Officers in March this year. They uncovered one emaciated sow who was suckling eight piglets, and one underweight sow, with neither of them having access to food or water.

The vet who attended found the animals suffering from 'chronic malnutrition'. Animal carcases, decomposing poultry remains and other animal by products were also found in the yard, having been there for three months.

Flitney had also failed to comply with essential record keeping requirements that enable animals to be traced in the event of an animal disease outbreak, and also ensures they do not have veterinary medicines in their system at the time of slaughter.

Trading Standards had been monitoring Flitney's conduct since November 2012 and advice had been given to Flitney on a number of occasions on the need to provide food, water and bedding for his animals, on the need to dispose of the animal carcases in accordance with animal by product rules and on the need to keep accurate records.

County Council Cabinet Member for Enterprise and Skills, Councillor Mathew Shuter, said: "This case again reaffirms that we will not tolerate animal cruelty on farms and small holdings in Cambridgeshire, being the second such case we have brought before the courts in the last month.

"It also demonstrates that we will take decisive action if our officers persistently find record keeping requirements have not been met, with such requirements being vital to reducing the impact of an animal disease outbreak - an occurrence that would be devastating for our rural economy and wider communities."