A 29-year-old woman has been fined $3000 after pleading guilty at the Midland Magistrates Court on Monday, January 15 to leaving her elderly Great Dane to suffer ‘football-sized’ tumours without treatment.

She was also banned from having pets for three years however Magistrate Gregory Benn ruled the offender could keep her current pets – two cats, a dog, and a tarantula.

The Midland Magistrates Court heard an RSPCA WA inspector responded to a cruelty complaint in relation to a dog at an address in Forrestfield in January 2022.

When she arrived, she found the dog, Brutus, lethargic and in poor condition with the outline of his ribs, hip bones, and the top of his skull visible.

The inspector also observed Brutus had a pungent smell and a large, hanging growth on the left side of his body which was around 15cm x 20cm in size.

The offender told the inspector 10-year-old Brutus had ‘rapidly deteriorated’ in the last couple of months however she had not taken him to a vet or made a euthanasia appointment.

The inspector seized the dog. A subsequent veterinary examination found he was severely emaciated with severe muscle wastage and a body condition score of one out of five; was severely dehydrated; and had a large ulcerated and infected mass and two smaller masses on his abdomen.

The larger mass had evidence of maggot infestation. The vet believed Brutus was likely in a significant amount of pain and his quality of life was severely comprised to such an extent that humane euthanasia was highly recommended.

The offender agreed for Brutus to be surrendered to RSPCA WA and be euthanised. In sentencing, Magistrate Benn said Brutus’s condition must have been plain to see for a number or weeks, if not months and euthanasia should have happened much earlier.