The founder of a horse rescue centre who kept animals in hazardous conditions and failed to meet their basic needs has been sentenced for animal welfare and disease control offences. No equids were involved in any of the charges or the investigation.
Wendy Davies, 75, was given a two-year conditional discharge and ordered to pay £10,000 in costs, at Cambridge Magistrates’ Court on 5 March. She had pleaded guilty to one welfare offence and was found guilty at trial of nine more welfare and disease control charges.
Officers from Cambridgeshire County Council Trading Standards had visited Willow Tree Stables, at which Davies set up Isleham Horse And Pony Rescue Centre in the 1990s, “on several occasions”, a council spokesperson said after sentencing.The spokesperson said Davies was given “extensive advice from both Trading Standards and veterinary surgeons from the Animal and Plant Health Agency [but] she failed to act to provide for the basic needs of her livestock”.
“Pigs were found to be without suitable housing or a dry area in their pens to lie down, without water and were living in hazardous conditions,” the spokesperson said. “Poultry were kept in a dirty environment and medicine records and reports of deceased animals had not been maintained.”
Conditional discharge
The conditional discharge means Wendy Davies “must not commit any more breaches of animal welfare and disease control legislation for the next two years otherwise immediate sentencing will take place”.
The centre’s website states: “Wendy started rescuing horses almost four decades ago and she realised her dream in the early 1990s when she established Isleham Horse and Pony Rescue Centre. Wendy provides a forever home for horses of all sizes as well as for many other furry and feathered creatures.”
Cambridgeshire County Council’s Peter Gell said farmers and smallholders in the county “work tirelessly” to meet their animals’ needs and comply with disease control measures.
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“As an authority, we are committed to tackling those who don’t meet these standards, who don’t uphold the welfare of the animals in their care, or who jeopardise our local animal and poultry stocks by taking short cuts on disease control measures,” he said.
“Those who keep livestock must take animal welfare responsibilities seriously; letting animals suffer is not acceptable especially when there is advice and support available.
“Trading Standards will continue to take action to prevent suffering when it’s identified and use the sanctions available to deter others from offending.”
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Eleanor is an experienced journalist who spent over eight years working for local and national newspapers before joining H&H as news editor in March 2016. Passionate about equine welfare and exposing the truth, Eleanor has reported on all aspects of the industry, from Brexit to anti-bullying campaigns, and from dressage rules to mules. Her sport of choice is showjumping, in which she competes her own horses, and she also enjoys reporting at local jumping shows through to international championships.
