Owner who used elastic bands to mark puppies is fined for cruelty

The bands, which tightened as the Staffordshire Bull terrier puppies grew, caused fur loss and grooves in the animals' legs and one puppy suffered poor blood supply to its paw.

Bradford Crown Court heard yesterday that owner Timothy McLees, 32, did not buy identification collars for the animals because they were too expensive and got the idea for using elastic bands from a market stall owner.

The seven puppies and their mother were all found by an RSPCA inspector when she was called to an address in Rothesay Terrace, Bradford, last September.

The puppies were being kept in a homemade pen in a attic room which was described as being in a terrible state with an overwhelming smell of excrement.

The pen contained some dried dog food but no water and there were

empty food bowls and tins in the 8ft by 10ft room.

Nigel Hamilton, prosecuting, said the inspector found a chart on the wall with various colours corresponding to the bands around the puppies' legs

McLees, now of Ann Place, Little Horton, Bradford, admitted owning the animals and said he had been away from the house for three days setting up a photographic studio.

He said he put the elastic bands on the puppies when they were two or three weeks old and realised subsequently that what he had done had caused problems.

The court heard all the animals had fleas and one of them needed treatment for an inflammatory skin disorder.

A vet concluded the dogs had been caused unnecessary suffering because of the tightness of the bands or because the puppies grew and the bands became tighter.

McLees admitted the offence and was sentenced by Bradford magistrates in April to 150 hours unpaid work and banned from keeping animals for 10 years.

Although McLees signed over six of the puppies to the RSPCA at the time he had hoped to get back the bitch and one of the puppies, but the magistrates made a deprivation order against him in respect of those animals, halting their return.

McLees planned to appeal, but after Recorder Carl Gumsley indicated his sentence could be altered to a prison term of about 12 weeks he withdrew.

McLees was ordered to pay a further 250 in costs for the appeal.