Moray puppy farmers given ban
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A father and son who operated a puppy farm near Keith have been banned from keeping dogs for the next decade.
Samuel Hessin and his son, who's also called Samuel, sold in excess of a hundred dogs over a 10-month period until the operation was closed down by the SSPCA on September 19, 2019.
Inspectors found a total of 56 dogs kept in "unhygienic" and "unacceptable" conditions at Balnamoon, a farm at Crossroads.
The charity acted following two separate complaints from the general public.
All the dogs were immediately taken away from the farm and rehomed at centres around Scotland.
Speaking at Elgin Sheriff Court earlier today, fiscal depute Shamielah Ghafar stated that 28 of the dogs were later found to have diarrhoea, including all but one of the youngest puppies.
A two-year-old Staffie, was described as having a "grossly swollen" neck and a "large gaping wound" behind her left ear.
Three more dogs were to said to have painful skin conditions, while a further 11 were infected with ear mites.
The court heard the younger Hessin, who was still a teenager at the time, had begun selling the dogs in December 2018, shortly after his family moved to the farm from Northern Ireland.
A total of 18 different mobile numbers and 11 different email addresses were used to place adverts on the Gumtree and Freeads websites.
The dogs were billed as being either family pets or their offspring.
They were also said to be at various locations including Huntly and Buckie as well as Keith.
The court was shown videos and photos of the dogs and the conditions in which they lived.
Some were inside the farm house, while others were kept within pens and cages in various outhouses.
A smell of ammonia and faeces was said to have pervaded the outhouses because the straw had not been recently changed.
Defence solicitor Iain Hingston represented the son while Lynne Freeland represented the father.
Ms Freeland said different phones had been used in order to place the adverts for free.
She then went on to describe her client's financial situation as "horrific", adding that the £10,000 received for the sales was a "drop in the ocean" compared to his debts.
Mr Hingston said the son had begun trading the dogs to try help his father but had quickly got in over his head.
The court heard that while the younger man had emailed Moray Council after learning that a licence was needed to keep so many dogs, no effort had been made to obtain one.
Samuel Hessin snr (49) admitted a charge of breeding animals without a licence and another of allowing them to kept in inadequate conditions.
Samuel Hessin jnr (22) admitted causing unnecessary suffering and failing to provide adequate care.
As well as banning both men from keeping dogs for the next 10 years, Sheriff Olga Pasportnikov ordered each of them to carry out 300 hours of unpaid work for the community.
She said: "It was only by good fortune that operation was closed down relatively quickly."
