Man Let His Dog Starve to Death
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January 25, 2005, MAITLAND, AUSTRALIA --The skeletal remains of a Rhodesian Ridgeback lay where the red puppy spent its life - chained up in a bed of its own faeces. A short distance away, but too far for the dog to have reached on a chain with only 30cm of slack, were two dog dishes. One dish was upside down. The other was empty.
Police who attended Peter James Keefe's Paterson property on August 21, 2004 described the dog's living conditions as "appaling". But those conditions were all that cradled the animal as it starved to death.
In Maitland Local Court yesterday, 34-year-old Keefe was ordered to serve 150 hours of community service for aggravated cruelty to an animal and fined $900 for failing to provide the dog with veterinary treatment, sufficient food and drink.
Solicitor Kim Richardson told the court her client was "at a loss to how he could have let this happen".
"He was going through a difficult time and forgot about the dog," Mr. Richardson said.
"He had so much on his life he forgot to feed and care for the dog in his backyard.
"He is extremely ashamed of what happened. He is very ashamed of how this dog died."
Police found the dog lying dead in an area under the back steps of Keefe's Maitland Road house. "The immediate area in which the dog was chained was heavy in faeces and the chain had about 30cm of slack as it twisted through the metal frame of a bed a number of times, creating little room to move," police documents before the court said.
"The dog itself appeared to be in very poor condition with most of its skeleton protruding."
An autopsy conducted by the RSPCA showed the dog had died of starvation. Keefe, a Thermit rail welder and self-described "loner", had since been diagnosed with depression, Ms Richardson said. "He is now getting counselling," she said.
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Magistrate Stephen Jackson handed down sentence after Keefe was convicted in Dungog Local Court on December 7, 2004. He said the 150-hour community service order was equivalent to a nine-month jail term and testament to "how seriously the court looks on these matters".
Mr Jackson also ordered Keefe pay $173.25 compensation to the RSPCA for the cost of the autopsy.
