Woman receives ten-year ban for kitten’s distress (From York Press)

Woman receives ten-year ban for kitten’s distress

9:16am Thursday 25th October 2012 in News By Dan Bean, dan.bean@thepress.co.uk

A WOMAN has been banned from keeping animals for ten years after a kitten she was keeping became distressed during a “confrontation” in York.

Helen Bond, 29, pleaded guilty at Selby Magistrates’ Court to causing the four-month-old tabby kitten fear and distress following a series of confrontations with police and representatives of the Salvation Army in January this year.

Bond had travelled to York and had begun looking for work while lodging in the city, Phil Brown, prosecuting for the RSPCA, told the court.

After four days she “effectively found herself homeless”, and police decided the Salvation Army may help her find temporary accommodation.

During the meeting, the court heard the kitten remained in its carrying box, where “it did not receive the level of care and attention it needed”, and became distressed. It was decided Bond would be helped onto a train to her home in Stroud, Gloucestershire, where she is a carer for her ex-husband.

Mr Brown said there was then, however, “something of a confrontation between the two parties”.

He said: “The kitten was shaken around during the course of the confrontation. It exhibited reactions indicating it suffered from stress.”

The court heard Bond was remanded overnight before returning to Stroud, and the kitten was taken from her and later rehomed. Magistrates were also told Bond’s ex-husband was currently disqualified from keeping animals for 20 years.

Bond, speaking in her own defence, said: “The cat’s mother had been killed by my ex-husband so I had to take her away from her mother too young, but I couldn’t help that.”

Bond interrupted as magistrate Deborah Chipps told her she would be disqualified from keeping animals for ten years, and said: “That kitten wouldn’t have been alive if I hadn’t bottle fed her from the day she was born.”

Bond was also given a conditional discharge for two years, and told she could appear before courts in five years to reapply to keep animals.