Illegal dog breeder who mutilated puppies' ears jailed

An illegal dog breeder who mutilated the ears of puppies has been jailed.

Christopher Mae, 32, from Cardiff, pleaded guilty to four offences and was sentenced to 16 weeks in prison.

He will have to pay more than £11,000 for the cost of housing his dogs, fines and a victim surcharge.

Cardiff Magistrates' Court heard Mae caused unnecessary suffering to two dogs when he "cropped" their ears, which is an illegal practice in the UK.

The ears were cropped for "financial gain", with the dogs worth between £1,000 and £1,500 more after the banned procedure, the court heard.

Mae sold dogs through a Facebook page called Bulletproof Bullies for between £1,000 and £5,000 each, "depending on quality and bone structure".

The court heard he was an unlicensed breeder and he pleaded guilty to the illegal landing of a dog in the UK called George, which could have come from China or Spain.

Council officers investigated his Facebook page and discovered multiple references to dog breeding and offering dogs and puppies for sale.

His home was searched and eight adult dogs and eight puppies were found.

All eight adult dogs had their ears cropped.

Vet records revealed more than 60 dogs had been registered.

The court heard five females were his breeding bitches and he owned two stud dogs, and that Mae had a "special bloodline" that he had developed for certain colours.

George was examined and had difficulty walking.

Mae's dogs were seized and three adults and two puppies had to be taken to quarantine because they had no passports.

Mae was also disqualified from having any animals for eight years and prohibited for applying for revocation of that order for five years.

The court heard Mae sold to "unsavoury people" and had 13 convictions for 21 previous offences from 2004 to 2017 including assault, possessing a controlled drug, dishonesty, handling stolen goods and criminal damage.