A woman has been banned from keeping dogs after the RSPCA found TWENTY SEVEN poodles crammed into her squalid home.
Twenty one of the dogs were squashed together in five metal cages and six others were running loose in one room.
Magistrates heard that the animals had “a miserable existence” and were left in filthy conditions.
Five of the dogs were found to be underweight and many had dental disease.
Owner Heather Green, 69, claimed she loved her animals and never deliberately hurt them.
She refused to accept there was any problem or that the animals suffered unnecessarily and said her care of them was sufficient.
She denied cruelty but was convicted of causing them unnecessary suffering by magistrates at Bodmin, Cornwall.
Green, from nearby Launceston, was sentenced to a six-week custodial sentence, suspended for one year, and banned from keeping dogs for 10 years.
She was also fined £750 and ordered to pay £300 in costs and a £115 victim surcharge.
RSPCA inspector Lewis Taylor said: “These dogs were kept in inadequate conditions and were sadly suffering as a result.
“We found 21 dogs squashed together in five metal cages with six others running loose in just one room. It was a miserable existence and no way for animals to live.
“Anyone caring for animals must be able to meet their needs and provide them with the kind of life they deserve.”
A deprivation order was also made in respect of the 27 dogs who are being cared for by the charity which hopes to rehome them.
