A man convicted of animal cruelty charges for using a "barbaric" steel jaw trap to maim a neighbour's cat has been given a six-month good behaviour bond and fined.
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The 71-year-old man from the Adelaide suburb of Rosewater refused to free his neighbour's cat Lunar after she was caught in the steel jaw trap for more than two hours, the court heard.
RSPCA South Australia Chief Inspector Andrew Baker said steel jaw traps "are barbaric devices that inflict terrible injuries and cause enormous suffering".
"We encourage anyone who has one to turn it into scrap metal so that there is no possibility of it ever falling into the hands of a person who wants to harm animals,' he said.
'I want my cat back'
Lunar's owner started looking for the four-year-old cat after it hadn't returned home on March 2.
She made flyers to pass around the neighbourhood and was searching for the cat when she heard her meowing on March 4.
She popped her head over the 71-year-old's fence and told him, "You have my cat. I want my cat back".
The man replied that he was "going to execute the cat", the court heard.
The owner called her partner who spotted Lunar stuck in the trap, jumped the fence and released the cat.
Lunar was rushed to a vet clinic where she underwent surgery to amputate one of her toes that had been crushed in the trap.
The vet bill totalled $4177, and the court ordered the 71-year-old to pay.
The steel jaw was set beside a hole in the fence with bricks arranged to funnelled cats entering through the hole into the trap, photos taken by the owner's partner showed.
Trapper convicted
Police and an RSPCA inspector were notified about the trap and went the following day to check the man's backyard.
They found that the man had reset the trap in the same spot.
The RSPCA inspector discharged it with a metal pole before seizing it as evidence.
"It's tragic to think that some animals could become trapped and never found, leaving them to die in agony," Chief Inspector Baker said.
"From RSPCA's perspective, there's no good reason to own a steel-jaw trap."
The 71-year-old was convicted of ill-treatment of an animal in a manner prescribed by the Animal Welfare Regulations 2012, thereby causing serious harm to a cat.
He was also convicted for setting a steel jaw trap. In South Australia it's legal to own a steel jaw trap but illegal to set it.
Anna Houlahan
Anna Houlahan reports on crime and social issues affecting regional and remote Australia in her role as national crime reporter at Australian Community Media (ACM). She was ACM’s Trainee of the Year in 2023 and, aside from reporting on crime, has travelled the country as a journalist for Explore Travel Magazine. Reach out with news or updates to anna.houlahan@austcommunitymedia.com.au
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