A man who neglected three ponies has been banned from keeping animals after a prosecution by the RSPCA.
Twenty-seven-year-old Arron Lee Dixon, of Aberfan Fawr, was found guilty of five Animal Welfare Act offences at Merthyr Magistrates’ Court last Wednesday (11 December).
Each of the offences related to one or more of the three ponies – a grey gelding Welsh, skewbald male native and small skewbald male native.
He was handed an 18-week prison sentence, suspended for 12 months, and ordered to undertake 20 rehabilitation days. Dixon was also banned for five years from keeping animals. Fortunately, all have undergone “amazing transformation” in RSPCA care and are now available for rehoming.
The RSPCA had previously given the man advice on horse care in February this year after the ponies had little to no natural grazing at a Bryngoleu site in the Merthyr Tydfil village.
However, when they returned the following month – on 21 March – to check up on the welfare of the ponies, they were all found to be underweight with no supplementary feed available. One pony had also escaped the field and found grazing elsewhere.
While the RSPCA waited for the Police and a vet to arrive, Dixon returned to the land and was witnessed by the officer beating one of the horses.
One skewbald pony was so underweight and had such a poor body condition that veterinary opinion was that he had suffered unnecessarily.
Dixon was found guilty of inappropriate handling and ill-treatment of the pony he beat on 21 March.
He was also found guilty of offences related to failing to address the low weight and poor body condition of two ponies, as well as a failure to provide a suitable diet and suitable environment to all three of the ponies.
In addition to the animal ban and suspended prison sentence, Dixon was also given a curfew between 6pm and 6am for a period of ten weeks, and told to pay £1,000 costs and a £115 victim surcharge.
RSPCA Gemma Cooper said: “These ponies were grazed illegally on inappropriate land without supplementary feed, and therefore were not having their needs met – and one was so underweight, vets found him to be suffering.
“We tried to work with Dixon previously but returned to the site to find improvements had not been made. One pony had even escaped the field, and subsequently found grazing elsewhere.
“Thankfully, we were able to rescue these three ponies and offer them a second chance of happiness. All three ponies have made an amazing transformation in RSPCA care and are now available for rehoming.”
