Five-year pet ban for man who let puppies starve

Published on Monday 26 May 2008 22:17

A MAN was banned from keeping animals for five years yesterday after he starved three puppies to death.

Michael Nesbitt, 18, of Clovenstone Gardens, Edinburgh, kept a litter of seven Border collie-cross pups and their mother in a cage.

When he realised that three of the tiny dogs had died because of lack of food the teenager dumped their bodies in a shoebox.

Police and animal cruelty officials acted after a neighbour complained about the smell.

The surviving dogs were immediately taken from him and he was charged with animal neglect.

At Edinburgh Sheriff Court, after admitting neglect, Nesbitt was banned from keeping pets and fined 150.

Doreen Graham, of the Scottish SPCA, said afterwards: "These puppies died a horrible and slow death. Every time they heard footsteps they would have thought someone was coming to feed them.

"In cases of neglect we would always look for a life ban to be imposed – owning a pet is a privilege, not a right."