Cocker spaniel baked to death in drying cage at groomer’s
A SPANIEL was virtually cooked to death in a homemade drying cage after her owner dropped her at a dog groomer. The next time Maureece Sarell saw her pet Trudie, the animal was critically ill at a vet’s. A court heard the seven-year-old had to be put down after suffering internal bleeding, blistered skin and dehydration.
Magistrates were told the golden cocker spaniel spent 20 minutes in groomer Jo Taylor’s contraption – made from a tarpaulin-covered steel cage with a heater attached.
When she released the pet she realised something was wrong and took her to the vet, but little could be done to ease the animal’s suffering.
Taylor, 31, was convicted of failing in her duty of care towards the animal following a prosecution brought by the RSPCA.
Yesterday, an inspector said Trudie’s death highlighted the need for stricter controls on the unlicensed dog grooming trade.
Taylor admitted the injuries were caused while Trudie was in her care but said the cage was a popular method of drying dogs.
Before the incident in October, 81 dogs had used the cage – including her own pet for as long as 70 minutes at a time, the court heard.
She told Leicester Magistrates’ Court: ‘ I’ve also groomed 100 more dogs since the incident and no problems have been encountered.’
The groomer said Trudie ‘ made a little whimpering sound’ when she put her in the cage, which was ‘normal for a lot of dogs’, and claimed she had been standing beside the cage the entire length of time the pet was inside.
Magistrates, however, said they found it ‘ difficult to accept’ evidence that Trudie was checked every few minutes.
Taylor, who ran Yensid Dog Grooming from her home in Wigston, Leicester, was cleared of causing unnecessary suffering but convicted of failing in her duty of care.
She was given a 12-month conditional discharge and ordered to pay £350 costs.
After the case, divorcee Mrs Sarell, 55, said: ‘It’s disgraceful that Trudie was left in that box unsupervised.’ RSPCA inspector Sally Kearns said: ‘The injuries were absolutely horrific.
‘It was basically the same as when a dog is left in a car on a hot day. You can only imagine the pain.’
She said groomers often use similar cages to dry dogs and she had seen other animals burned by groomers.
She added: ‘It is basically a metal dog crate with a hot air blaster wedged in the front. Three sides of the crate are then covered by a thin blanket and hot air is blasted in to dry the dog.’ She called for stricter controls on the unlicensed grooming trade, adding: ‘You need a licence to sell or breed pets, but not to groom them. It seems strange.’