Illegal dog breeder gets conditional discharge

Vernon Charles, 45, was given a conditional discharge on Wednesday for illegally breeding a dog.

A 45-year-old man was given a conditional discharge today for illegally breeding a dog.

Vernon Charles admitted breeding his doberman pinscher in August last year without a licence.

The court heard on August 16, animal wardens received information that Charles had bred a litter of puppies.

The officers obtained a search warrant for his home and attended the house on August 21.

When they arrived, the defendant told them he had a dog that gave birth to six dogs, but they had died.

He told the officers he had a breeder’s license, but all he had was an application form that hadn’t been submitted.

Addressing the court, Charles said: “It was a show dog and the dog was giving me problems.

“She was showing signs of going through a pregnancy. She was an old dog that I wanted to get a pup from.”

Charles told the court he had to take the dog to Ettrick’s Animal Hospital to get a C-section because there were complications with her giving birth.

He also said he paid $4,000 for the dog and the six puppies died two days after they were born.

Senior Magistrate Archibald Warner said this kind of offence could be dealt with by way of a conditional discharge.

But he warned Charles and said: “You know the rules that you need a breeder’s license so you should obey the law.

“In the circumstances, I’m going to deal with this by way of a conditional discharge.”