Three owners of an illegal puppy farm have been fined a combined £85,000 after being found guilty of animal cruelty-related offences in London.
Council officers in Dagenham found nine dogs including huskies, pit bull terriers - which were being sold as Staffordshire bull terriers - and a French bulldog, all living in “terrible conditions”. This included dogs that were chained up or left in cages so small they were surrounded by their own excrement, while other dogs were kept in a “dirty bathroom”.
Raimundas Pazdrazdis, Raimundas’s brother Sigitas Pazdrazdis and a third defendant pleaded not guilty to a string of animal cruelty charges but were found guilty of all of them at Romford Magistrates’ Court on June 16. Community service orders were also given out as were bans on animal ownership. Barking and Dagenham Council was alerted to the farm after a complaint was made in October 2019 relating to a purchase of a puppy whose health deteriorated quickly after it was taken home. The complaint led to an investigation into unlicensed dog breeding activity.
Councillor Syed Ghan said: “This is a fantastic result as not only have we protected the public from buying dogs that might be unsafe, but the defendants have been banned from keeping dogs for several years.
“We won’t stand for dogs or any other animal being treated in this despicable way and if we find out somebody is mistreating them, we will make sure that we go all out to take the strongest action.”
Raimundas was convicted of 16 charges. He was given a 12-month community order with 300 hours unpaid work, banned from keeping dogs for seven years, and given costs of £75,000 to be paid in 12 months. His six dogs were removed. Due to his three pit bulls being classed as unsafe, they will be put down.
Sigitas, who owned two of the dogs, was convicted on 13 charges. He was given a 12-month community order with 150 hours unpaid work and banned from keeping dogs for five years. His two dogs were removed with one of those, a pit bull, to be put down. He was given costs of £7,500 to be paid at £200 per month.
The third defendant was given a 12-month community order with 60 hours unpaid work and banned from keeping dogs for three years. He was also given costs of £2,500 to be paid at £50 per month. The trio were sentenced on July 22 at Romford Magistrates’ Court.
Update (15/4/24): An earlier version of this article referred to the prosecution of a third defendant. His conviction was quashed on appeal at Snaresbrook Crown Court on 19 February 2024.
