'Horrifying' home full of dead and dying animals uncovered as woman slapped with ban

Gordon Currie
·4-min read
Donna Breen was banned from keeping any animal for the next ten years
Donna Breen was banned from keeping any animal for the next ten years -Credit:Gordon Currie


Animal welfare officers forced their way into a pet owner's home and found a "frankly horrifying" menagerie of dead and dying caged animals. Donna Breen was banned from keeping any animal for the next ten years after she admitted being responsible for the dead and decaying pets.

Breen, 44, was also placed under a restriction of liberty order for eight months after she admitted three neglect charges at Perth Sheriff Court. The court was told that SSPCA, council and police officers forced entry when Breen refused to let them in and discovered dead and emaciated animals in a "putrid" environment.

They found the rotting and skeletal carcasses of guinea pigs, along with hamsters, a rabbit and a dog which were being kept in cramped and stinking conditions. One guinea pig was so badly neglected that officers thought it was dead until they took a photograph and it limply responded to the camera flash.

Two had to be put down after being rescued. The terrier dog - which was kept in a covered cage and never walked - was so badly dehydrated that it became fixated when it heard a running tap.

Sheriff Alison McKay said: "The narration of the conditions in which you kept these animals is, frankly, horrific. The court has to consider custody, but I am satisfied there is an alternative."

Breen, now Nimmo Place, Perth, admitted charges relating to failures to feed and water animals in two previous homes in Perth and Methven between 1 February and 13 May 2022.

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Fiscal depute Stuart Hamilton told the court: "The SSPCA received a call stating the accused had been evicted and her former landlady had found multiple dead, small mammals within the house.

"A putrid smell came from within the house, which had obvious extensive hoarding issues. There was a shoebox containing two deceased guinea pigs - both collapsed carcasses showing they had been dead for some time and unable to tell their body condition due to the decomposition stage.

"There was an indoor mammal hutch with several inches of faeces. There was a cardboard box containing a dead ferret with only pelt intact. A Patterdale Terrier type dog [Rusty] was housed within a small cage, covered with a blanket and in its own faeces, with no access to water.

"The accused stated the dog did not get out of the cage or get walked. The stench of decaying flesh was evident, mixed with the strong smell of urine.

"One domesticated rat was provided with a large cage, but was denied access to water, and no food could be seen with a substantial faecal accumulation on the floor.

"A plastic dome was removed and exposed two further deceased guinea pigs. Presuming all seven guinea pigs were alive at some time, this would be far too over-crowded and cause stress.

"A medium-sized cage under a table housed no living animals - however it had a putrid smell with unrecognisable sludge in the bottom and one empty bowl."

The surviving animals were all removed and taken to the vets, where the guinea pigs were found to weigh half what they should and a rabbit had lost fur and had raw and painful skin. Solicitor Linda Clark, defending, said Breen's husband and mother had died in 2020 and she had been leading a "fairly chaotic life" at the time of the raid.

"She would readily accept all of these animals she had responsibility for were simply too much for her. She was not in a good place," Mrs Clark said. The court was told Breen had another conviction - relating to the death by neglect of a horse - but it did not count as a previous conviction due to its timing.

She let one of her horses starve to the point where it had to be put down, and a second starve to the point where it became so emaciated it had to be rescued and put on a special diet to save its life. Perth Sheriff Court was told that both horses - Farrah and Destiny - weighed around 100 kilos less than they should have done if they were being fed properly when they were discovered in 2019.

In that case - heard in court during 2022 - Breen was placed under social work supervision for 18 months and made subject to a ban for an initial three year period.

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