Carlisle man jailed for allowing puppies' ears to be cropped

Michael Nolan, 31, of Victoria Road, Carlisle, was jailed for 14 weeks, alongside a 15-year ban for keeping dogs, after Staffordshire Police found six puppies and three men amidst an ear-cropping operation at a property in Hanley on November 10, 2020.

Upon the discovery, three of the puppies had had their ears cropped and were still in a semi-comatose state because of anaesthesia given to them prior to the procedure being conducted.

Ear cropping case

Carlisle's Nolan faced one offence in that he was responsible for a puppy and another person carried out a prohibited procedure, 'namely the cropping of ears on the animal and permitted it to happen or failed to take such steps to prevent it'.

Alexander David Johnson, of Elmsmere Road, Abbey Hulton, Stoke-on-Trent, faced one offence that he carried out the cropping of ears on three puppies.

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Ryan Woodward, of Forrest Court, Union Street, Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, faced one offence that he did aid, abet, counsel or procure Alexander David Johnson to carry out a prohibited procedure of cropping the ears of three puppies.

All men pleaded guilty to the charges.

Nolan was jailed for 14 weeks and ordered to pay £400 costs.

The police contacted the RSPCA, who took on the investigation at the time.

In a written witness statement, provided to the court by RSPCA inspector Jenny Bethel, she said she collected the puppies - who had been seized by police on 10 November 2020 - and took them to a veterinary practice.

She noted that three of the six puppies - who were bully-type puppies and were around eight to 10 weeks old - had their ears cropped and three had their ears intact.

Heartbreaking - one of the puppies

All puppies were examined and given a health check, vaccinations and were microchipped, with the three which had their ears cropped the night before were given pain relief and antibiotics.

The three ear-cropped pups went on to have their ears operated on and restitched at RSPCA Greater Manchester Animal Hospital.

Inspector Bethel continued to investigate the incident with police handing over seized items from the night of the offence.

The puppies were rescued by the RSPCA

There were two pairs of black latex gloves and bloodied kitchen roll tissue all in separate sealed evidence bags and there was a black men's cosmetic bag containing multiple and various veterinary objects.

“The bag contained syringes, needles, surgical scissors and blades, three empty 10mg bottles of Sedivet for horses, one empty bottle of ketamine, empty vaccination bottles, pliers and a staple gun with blood on it,” said inspector Bethel.

Bag seized from the property

After sentencing inspector Bethel said: “Over the months I monitored the puppies and took them for vaccinations and vet visits.

“I would like to thank the Cheshire (Altrincham) branch of the RSPCA for providing wonderful foster homes on such short notice so they didn't have to spend any time in kennels.

“All six puppies have grown into beautiful dogs, are a credit to their fosterers and have gone on to find amazing forever homes.”

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