Dogs kept by breeder in space ‘a third’ of minimum required

Two adult German Shepherd dogs were found in a space about one-third the minimum recommended size when an unregistered dog-breeding establishment was inspected last year, a court was told.

Drogheda District Court also heard on Tuesday that the Louth County Veterinary Officer had served a closure order on Mariusz Kesicki (48) of Rathneety Cottage, Co Louth.

It was served in October last year under the Dog Breeding Establishment Act and in court on Tuesday Kesicki was convicted and fined for failing to register it as a breeding establishment.

Veterinary officer Garrett Shine and dog wardens assisted gardaí on the October 22nd last year when they went onto the premises.

Mr Shine told the court that they found 36 dogs of which 19 were adult females. Under the Act, if there are six or more adult female dogs it must be registered as a breeding establishment with the local authority.

All the dogs were taken to the county pound and a closure notice was subsequently served on Mr Kesicki.

Judge Eirinn McKiernan was shown photographs and one showed two adult German Shepherds in a space of three square metres when, Mr Shine said, the legislation said it should be a minimum of 8.5 square metres.

“So it was one third of the minimum size and you would expect it to be well above the minimum,” he said.

There was a bowl of water which was green because it so stagnant, the court heard. A picture was shown to the judge of one kennel which had mud, faeces and dog hair in it.

The court also heard that when a follow-up inspection was done on the January 9th this year that improvements had been made to the standards of the structure of the kennels.

On that date, the dog warden found 20 dogs on site including nine pups under four months and nine adult female dogs.

Mr Kesicki defended himself and said, through a Polish interpreter, he had installed a lot of new flooring since the first inspection in October.

He told the Judge that he had a lot of dogs on the premises then because there had been a dog show and they had not yet been collected. He also said the man who cleans for him had been on a day off. There were electrolytes added to the green water, he said.

He said the publicity surrounding the visit last October had affected his reputation and that of his family.

He said he had not understood the closure notice and he was a member of the Irish Kennel Club.

The court heard he now understood he must register with the county council as a breeder.

He told the judge he currently had five females, four pups and three dogs and the court heard he had pups for sale on DoneDeal for €850.

The Judge convicted him for failing to register, taking into account a second summons alleging failure to comply with the closure notice.

She imposed a €200 fine and ordered he pay costs of €1,838.