A man and a woman have been banned from keeping dogs after being involved in the cropping of their pets' ears.

Rory Canny, 30, and Sophie Louise Snell, 30, appeared at Colchester Magistrates' Court on Friday to be sentenced for the cropping of their dogs' ears. 

The pair, both of St Osyth Road, Little Clacton, had previously been convicted of one offence each under the Animal Welfare Act related to the cropping. 

The RSPCA launched an investigation after reports of the cropped ear dogs.

A warrant was executed at a property in Clacton where investigators found a number of dogs at the property, including several with cropped ears.

In her witness statement, RSPCA inspector Caroline Richardson - who compiled a research report based on the Instagram images said: "An image shows an entire litter of puppies with whole ears, on BullylairUK Instagram page, stating they are four weeks old.

“Bjorn (pictured above) is then posted about in December 2020 with cropped ears. Canny and Snell both confirmed in interview this is the same dog and that they bred the dog.”

East Anglian Daily Times:

Another dog - Nylah - is seen in an image posted on Instagram May 9 2020 as a four-week-old puppy with whole ears. 

The image which was posted on March 7 showed her with cropped ears.

Ear cropping is illegal in England and Wales, under Section 5 of the Animal Welfare Act 2006.

Both Canny and Snell were disqualified from keeping dogs for five years at their sentencing on Friday. 

Canny was also given a 12-week prison sentence suspended for 12 months and Snell was given a curfew of 9pm to 6am for six months.

Both were ordered to pay £600 in costs each while Snell was ordered to pay a £90 victim surcharge and Canny a £122 victim surcharge.

The couple told the court that they’d since rehomed all of the dogs so they were not deprived of ownership of any, but must not own or care for any further dogs during their five-year ban.

Speaking after sentencing, inspector Richardson said: “Ear cropping is an horrific practice which has absolutely no benefits for the dogs and can cause them lifelong health, behavioural and social problems.

“This is done purely for cosmetic purposes and sadly can lead to puppies being sold for much more money - but we’d urge the public and anyone looking to buy a puppy to remember that this is an illegal procedure which has hugely negative impacts for the dogs themselves.”