Cruel puppy ear cropping gang who mutilated designer dogs for £450 to make them look 'mean and aggressive' are jailed

Daily Mail​

a day ago

A cruel puppy ear cropping gang mutilated designer dogs for £450 so they would look 'mean and aggressive'.
One member of the racket boasted about being an 'icon of the dog world', while another named the businesses 'High Grade Bullz' and 'Balaclava Bullies'.
Alexander Johnson, Holly Dunn, and Amanda Whitehouse this week were sentenced at Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court after pleading guilty to animal cruelty offences for their part in the criminal enterprise.
Aaron Lee Wareham, who boasted about selling the mutilated puppies and was described by other members as the ringleader, died before he could enter a plea.
Johnson, 35, of Elmsmere Road, Abbey Hulton, in Stoke-on-Trent, was jailed for 12 months.
Dunn, 29, of Dentdale Close, Longton, and Whitehouse, 56, of Barry Avenue, Bucknall, were handed suspended sentences of 23 weeks and nine weeks respectively.
During sentencing, Judge Robert Smith called it a 'vile trade' and a 'wholly sickening and inhuman practice'.
The prosecution was brought by the RSPCA, and came following an investigation sparked by an undercover report by BBC Panorama.
This exposed incidents of dogs having their ears cropped after the practice was made illegal in the UK in 2006.
Hazel Stevens, prosecuting on behalf of the RSPCA, said: 'This act has been illegal for nearly 20 years and there is no breed of dog that's permissible to crop.
'This cropping is done because it's thought to make the animal look more fearsome, to increase the financial value and for kudos for breeders who do this.
'These are status dogs meant to look mean and aggressive, it's like tattooing a baby for the sake of aesthetics.
'The pregnant dogs were moved to different addresses to give birth. Johnson sees himself as an icon in the dog world and doesn't see the problem with cropped ears. He enjoys fame in the media.'
Johnson, who described himself as an 'icon of the dog world', pleaded guilty to causing a prohibited procedure to be carried out on a protected animal and breaching a lifetime disqualification order by keeping a dog
David Farley, mitigating for Johnson, said that Mr Wareham had recruited him to crop puppies' ears while he was on licence from prison for the same offence.
Johnson has no veterinary qualifications or training, and did not know the long-lasting health impact for dogs that have their ears cropped.
Mr Farley said: 'He did provide anaesthetic and pain relief. Mr Johnson never intended to cause cruelty to any animals.
'This was an unnatural procedure and something he regrets doing, but he managed to carry out the procedure without infection or harming the dog's general wellbeing.
'Other than the condition on the photos we've seen, he seems to have done it with some skill despite the lack of training.'
Mental health worker Dunn was asked if she wanted her Bully puppy to have cropped ears, responding 'no, it's fine', showing a lack of care for the puppy after declining the procedure.
The court heard Dunn lied to authorities, telling them that her dog had been imported into the UK with cropped ears and she had been unaware of the procedure happening.
It is currently not illegal to import a dog with cropped ears into Britain.
Fake documents were created in Romanian and Serbian in an attempt to show that the dogs had been imported, and that the ear cropping had been necessary due to being in fights outside the UK. Forged passports were also created for the dogs.
Dunn pleaded guilty to one charge of causing a prohibited procedure to be carried out on a protected animal and one charge of causing unnecessary suffering to a protected animal.
She was handed 23 weeks imprisonment suspended for 12 months, 100 hours of unpaid work and a lifetime ban for owning and keeping animals. She must also pay £1,000 costs.
Anis Ali, mitigating for Dunn, said: 'Whatever the scale for the commercial enterprise, it remains her role was extremely limited and was born out of misguided loyalty to individuals associated with those cruelly instrumented shears. She was convicted by her own confession.'
Whitehouse pleaded guilty to causing unnecessary suffering to a protected animal. She was given a nine-week prison sentence suspended for 12 months, 60 hours of unpaid work, and a 10-year disqualification for owning or keeping animals. She must also pay £500 towards costs.
She was the only one of the trio to plead guilty at the first opportunity, and showed genuine remorse.
Whitehouse is the aunt of another defendant, Thomas Taffe, and she was promised that she could keep pregnant bully bitch Lila if she acted as a fosterer for the cropped-ear pups.
Sentencing the trio, Judge Smith said: 'A criminal enterprise was being done. Ms Dunn and Ms Whitehouse, you played a part in that and you Mr Johnson, were the ear cropper - a significant role.
'Mr Johnson, you say you're an icon in the dog world, and you told a pack of lies to the police interviewer, saying you'd never done it before when in fact you had been imprisoned for the same offence.
'You had complete and utter disregard for the puppy named Rain, whose ears are scarred for life after your mutilation.'
Judge Smith added: 'This is a vile trade and in my view, anyone involved should go to prison. These offences are absolutely abhorrent to any right thinking individual, and I would be failing my public duty if I didn't send to prison the very people who take part in this awful and cruel procedure.'
Charlotte Bailey, 29, of Causeley Gardens, Bucknall, and Thomas Taffe, 29, also of Causeley Gardens, Bucknall, both pleaded guilty to multiple animal cruelty offences and will be sentenced on September 4.