Banned breeder sold fatally ill puppy
A notorious puppy breeder who had been banned from selling any more diseased dogs could be facing a jail term, after being found guilty of contempt of court for selling a fatally ill puppy to a couple in defiance of the court order.
In 2012, Commissioner for Consumer Protection took Supreme Court action against Fay Marie Armstrong and obtained an injunction to stop her selling diseased animals, after she was found to have sold sick dogs to three families.
All the pups, which cost between $350 to $450, had to be put down.
Later in 2012, Ms Armstrong was fined $34,000 after being found guilty of keeping dogs without food and water in “disgusting”, cramped conditions, after inspectors had earlier found six dogs in stacked airline pet travel crates in a rear bedroom of her Spearwood home with no ventilation, food, water or daylight.
Two dogs were also found at a property in the small Wheatbelt town of Korrelocking — one of them in a cage with only polluted water and the other in a paddock without food or water.
Around the same time, despite the court imposed ban, she was also accused of selling another infected puppy to another Perth couple after they answered an advert in the Quokka, and then bought a dog from a woman calling herself ‘Marie’.
The Labrador puppy fell ill just three days after being sold, and a vet confirmed the problem was parvovirus which would cost thousands to treat.
The family could not afford the vets bills, and had to have the puppy put down.
Ms Armstrong had flatly denied she was the person who sold the puppy.
But in a ruling by Supreme Court judge Andrew Beech today, he said he was satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that ‘Marie’ was Ms Armstong – and so she was guilty of contempt.
That could mean a prison term, with her sentence to be determined later this year.
