Well, yes, yes you can. A couple from Somerset have been in court this week on charges of failing to care for their sixty-nine pets. That’s
sixty-nine pets. The four-bedroomed house in Minehead was home to the couple, their four children, their fifty-six dogs, three cats, four chinchillas and six birds. According to the BBC report the cats lived in the bathroom and the birds lived in dirty cages. It is unclear where the children lived.
Apparently the couple saw themselves as a sanctuary for unwanted animals, taking in unwanted pets from both friends and random people they found on the internet. Neighbours complained to the council about the smell caused by the animals, claiming that it was so bad that they avoided going into their own gardens because of it.
The RSPCA has managed to rehome all but eight of the animals from their sanctuary at West Hatch and Somerset County Council was made aware of, and has dealt with the issue of child safety with a “satisfactory outcome”, according to the report.
The bigger issue here for everyone reading the report has to be, how on earth would they satisfactorily cloth that many animals? Details are sketchy, but going by the photograph that was run with the BBC report the animals in question seemed to be naked! Our pet couture correspondent, Bee, had this to say on the topic:
“Good God! The dry cleaning bills alone would be astronomical! Only a millionaire could afford to clothe that many dogs. Unless you just didn’t care if they wore rags! Where would you ever find enough distinct Santa hats to let each of their personalities shine through? Plus your Facebook wall would crash from all the pictures.”
So, Nibblers, please, for the sake of your pets’ emotional health and street cred, only have a manageable number of pets. Remember, no-one will squee at a dog that smells of poo and is wearing rags. Take heed, we so rarely have a moral to any of our stories.
