A DOG owner told a court how his pet was 'just a bag of bones' when he went to collect him from boarding kennels.

Vincent Faal said his cross bred Saluki 'Abdul' was in such an appalling state that his son ran past his pen without recognising him.

He had put Abdul into Ashton Kennels, on Little Ees Lane, Ashton on Mersey, for respite care for a shoulder injury. When he collected him 36 days later, the dog had lost half his body weight - the starving animal's weight had plunged down to fourteen and a half kilos.

At Trafford Magistrates Court on Tuesday, kennel owner Paul Bryan, 34, was convicted of causing unnecessary suffering to an animal and was disqualified from running a boarding kennels for five years.

The ban was suspended pending an appeal and Bryan was also fined £750 plus £757 costs.

Kennel worker Daniella Comar, 20, of Hurst Avenue, Sale, was also found guilty and fined £300 as well as £200 costs. A third defendant, Lee O'Pray, 22, of Dane Road, Sale, was found not guilty.

Mr Faal told the hearing: "Abdul was just a bag of bones. I was a dog warden for nine and a half years and he was one of the most emaciated animals I have ever seen. I was in shock at the state of the dog. It was terrible."

Abdul had to be put down.

Paul Heaton, an inspector with the RSPCA, described the dog's condition as 'appalling', saying he was completely emaciated with pressure sores on his back and hind quarters.

The court heard that Bryan opened the kennels in 1990, but since he set up a concrete business in 1994 had devoted much of his time to that. The feeding and cleaning of the animals was not carried out by him, but he told employees to contact him with any problems. He did not know there was anything wrong with Abdul until his owner came to collect him.

He said day to day care of Abdul was carried out by Comar, Lee O'Pray and another worker who the authorities have not been able to trace. The main jobs of the two men were with Bryan's concrete business.

Prosecutor Andrew Meachin described the system at the Kennels as 'haphazard' - there was little training, no rosters and no record of when animals should be fed.

Comar - who worked weekends and the odd day in the week - had claimed Abdul eat everything she gave him. She noticed on the Wednesday before he was collected he had lost some weight but was not unduly concerned.

Lee O'Pray told the court he last worked at the kennels during Abdul's stay on October 29 - the dog was collected on November 7. He did not notice anything wrong with the dog.

After the verdict, Mr Faal said: "I feel there should be greater scrutiny of boarding kennels by the authorities. I am grateful to the RSPCA for taking this case up."

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