A 71-year-old man from Rosewater has been convicted of animal cruelty after admitting to leaving a cat to suffer in a steel-jaw trap he had illegally set in his backyard. The man was found guilty of ill-treating the cat, causing it serious harm, in violation of the Animal Welfare Regulations 2012. He was also convicted for setting the steel-jaw trap, breaching South Australian regulations.
The court heard that the owner of the four-year-old female cat, named Lunar, last saw her pet at around 6 pm on Saturday, March 2nd. The following morning, the owner distributed flyers around the neighborhood, offering her contact details if the cat was found.
Two days later, while walking in the neighborhood, the owner heard her cat meowing. She looked over a fence into the defendant’s yard from a neighboring property and saw him there. The owner confronted the man, saying, “You have my cat. I want my cat back,” but the defendant replied that she had no proof the cat was hers and threatened to “execute the cat.”
The owner called her partner, who also looked into the yard and saw Lunar trapped. The defendant again refused to return the cat. The partner then jumped the fence, freed Lunar from the trap, and handed her back to his partner, photographing the trap before jumping back over the fence.
The couple rushed Lunar to a veterinary clinic, where she underwent surgery to amputate one of her toes that had been crushed in the trap. Lunar required ongoing care, costing her owners $4,177.
Photos provided to police and RSPCA inspectors by the partner of the cat’s owner showed the trap was set next to a hole in the fence, with bricks arranged to funnel cats directly into the trap. When RSPCA SA inspectors, accompanied by SA Police officers, visited the defendant’s property the day after Lunar’s rescue, the trap was still in place and had been reset. The inspector safely discharged the trap with a metal pole and seized it as evidence.
During a recorded interview, the defendant admitted that he knew Lunar was in the trap because his neighbor had informed him about two hours before the owner found her. Despite knowing the cat was trapped, he left her to suffer in pain.
At the Port Adelaide Magistrates Court, Magistrate Aaron Almeida sentenced the defendant to a six-month good behavior bond and ordered him to pay $4,177 for the veterinary costs. His Honor took into account the defendant’s lack of criminal history, advanced age, and ignorance of the trap’s illegality when deciding against imposing a prison sentence.
RSPCA SA Chief Inspector Andrew Baker expressed hope that the conviction would deter others from using such traps. “These are barbaric devices that inflict terrible injuries and cause enormous suffering,” he said. “It’s tragic to think some animals could be trapped and never found, leaving them to die in agony.”
Inspector Baker further emphasized that there is no valid reason to own a steel-jaw trap and encouraged anyone with one to turn it into scrap metal to prevent it from falling into the hands of those who might use it to harm animals.
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