American Bulldog starves to death in own faeces as Southsea owner avoids jail

Cherie Rees, 33, of Salterns Avenue, has been banned from keeping animals for 10 years after she left her dog Bell to die a room surrounded by its faeces after becoming so weak she could not walk or stand.

Rees pleaded guilty to two animal welfare offences following an investigation and prosecution by the RSPCA having tried to cover-up her shocking neglect by lying - with her claiming she found the dog in a park.

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Portsmouth Magistrates’ Court heard how Rees was the owner of Bell who at the time of her death on May 24 last year was just 22 months old.

Rees had contacted the dog warden service to report that she had found a dead dog in the park and had brought the body home and placed it in a bag. When the dog warden attended the property to collect the dog, she made a disclosure to the council officer that the dog had been kept in the living room at her property for the last year.

On inspection of the room, the dog warden observed a large amount of faeces of varying ages within the room. There was also an open bag of dog food and an empty water bowl.

As a result of this a report was made to the RSPCA and the animal welfare charity began an investigation into Bell’s cause of death.

RSPCA inspector Hannah Nixon said: “Bell was wearing a purple harness and a black collar. The collar was so loose around her neck, I could fit the width of my hand between her neck and the collar with at least half an inch to spare.

“The harness was spacious around her incredibly thin and skeletal body. Bell had a green coloured mucus discharge around her nose and eyes and was in appalling condition.”

The vet, in their report, said: “A post mortem found Bell was in a severely emaciated body condition with serous atrophy of the fat deposits in both the coronary groove and within the bone marrow of the long bones, which a commonly considered to be the final sources of fat reserves to be consumed in emaciation.

“The post mortem found no underlying disease that would have explained the poor body condition with the broncho-pneumonia occurring after the onset of the emaciation. In fact, broncho-pneumonia is widely reported to be a common end result of severe emaciation due to the failure of the immune system and in this case it would appear that this is the actual cause of death for Bell.

“In this case from the post-mortem there is no disease process identified to account for the emaciation. This would indicate that the cause was inadequate provision of food. Whilst it is noted that there was food available within the living room, which had not been eaten by Bell, it is likely that once she developed the broncho-pneumonia that her appetite would have failed.

“Equally the development of the broncho-pneumonia is likely to be concurrent with Bell being unable to stand and walk hence she may well have been unable to access the food once it was provided and this may explain why the food was not consumed.

“She should have been taken to the vets as a matter of urgency to investigate why she was either not eating or eating but losing weight.

“It is my expert opinion that Bell was caused to suffer both as a result of the emaciation and subsequently as a result of the broncho-pneumonia. The suffering could have been avoided by the simple action of seeking veterinary attention for Bell to determine the cause of the weight loss and the steps that were required to resolve the underlying cause of the weight loss. It is clear that Rees has ignored the decline in Bell over a prolonged period of time.”

In mitigation, Rees said she was “very sorry” she had neglected her dog.

Alongside the 10 year disqualification from owning animals, which she can not appeal for five years, she was also sentenced to a 12 month community order with 25 Rehabilitation Activity Requirement (RAR) days with a £140 fine and £114 surcharge.

Rees was convicted of causing unnecessary suffering to a protected animal between 17 April 2024 and 25May 2024. She was also convicted of failing to take appropriate welfare steps for the dog on May 23 last year.