‘Cruel’ puppy farm owners jailed

Cruel breeders who owned the ‘largest puppy farm in Scotland’ and are thought to have burnt the corpses of dead dogs in a van were convicted of animal cruelty offences.

Frank James, 53, and Michelle Wood, 29, kept nearly 100 dogs, including Springer spaniels and terriers, in ‘disgraceful’ conditions at a squalid farm in Aberdeenshire.

Investigators said the setup was like a ‘battery farm for pups’.

James was banned from keeping more than two dogs in 2013, but is thought to have flouted that ban and continued regardless.

When a raid was carried out at East Mains of Ardlogie Farm in Aberdeenshire, horrified investigators discovered 87 dogs including one just a few days old. An undercover investigator for the Scottish SPCA said: “The conditions these dogs were being kept in were absolutely disgraceful.”