Fake vet who ‘rescued’ thousands of dogs then kept them in squalor
To ANiMAl lovers, she was an angel of mercy who saved thousands of dogs condemned to die in eastern europe.
But kennel owner Jodie Fairbrother forced the ‘street dogs’ to endure more squalor once they were in her care, a court heard yesterday.
The animals from Romania were kept in filthy and overcrowded conditions where disease could spread.
Many were sick or injured and left untreated. one was kept in a cage for four days without food and water and then ‘ euthanised’ by Fairbrother, who had no veterinary qualifications. She then tried to hide the body.
The mother of four, 40, ran the 4Paws boarding kennels and veterinary clinic at South killingholme, North lincolnshire, for three years. She was helped by husband Paul, 50, who did the maintenance jobs.
They admitted animal welfare offences but walked free from Grimsby Magistrates’ Court after receiving suspended sentences.
The kennels transported 4,600 dogs from eastern europe in just 15 months. Fairbrother would publish photos on social media of the dogs, taken off the streets and due to be put down, and dog lovers would pay 4Paws a £235 adoption fee to give one of them a loving new home in the Uk.
But judge Daniel Curtis described conditions at the kennels as ‘utterly abhorrent’ and said the couple were ‘fortunate’ to escape jail. He said officers who raided the premises found a ‘pitiful sight’, adding: ‘The dark, stinking conditions were not a place for any animal, let alone an animal that had been very clearly suffering in another european country.’
Both have lost their reputations and face bankruptcy, he added.
Complaints from the public led to the RSPCA carrying out one of its biggest ever raids. The kennels should have housed only 40 dogs, but RSPCA officers, vets and police took 151 dogs and 16 cats from the site in March last year.
Rachel Taylor, prosecuting for the RSPCA, said the subsequent investigation and examination of CCTV revealed shocking animal abuse.
Fairbrother admitted six charges of causing unnecessary suffering to an animal and four of failing to provide suitable care to animals. She was given an 18-week jail sentence suspended for 12 months. Her husband admitted one offence of causing unnecessary suffering to a dog and two charges of failing to meet the needs and provide suitable care for animals. He was given a 12-week sentence suspended for a year. The RSPCA said: ‘[Fairbrother] had a social media fan club who believed she was over there... with the best of intentions, but the dogs were going out of the frying pan and into the fire.’