A man from Grangemouth has been banned from keeping animals for five years after neglecting six wolfdogs and a cat, and keeping the corpse of a wolfdog in his freezer. Graham Alexander McQuet was sentenced at Falkirk Sheriff Court and ordered to pay a £2,000 fine.
Animal welfare officers and police visited McQuet's property in the Falkirk area following concerns. They found the wolfdogs wearing shock collars and tracking collars, and living in inadequate conditions. A statutory care notice was issued, but McQuet refused entry for further inspections. A warrant was eventually obtained.
Before the warrant was executed, McQuet moved five of the wolfdogs to The Little Zoo in Wiltshire. The zoo's director described them as unsocialised, terrified, injured and in poor condition. When the warrant was executed, officers found one remaining wolfdog, Bronn, with a painful wound from a shock collar, and the body of another wolfdog, Artas, in a freezer, missing a leg. Evidence suggested the leg had been removed post-mortem by another dog.
McQuet claimed the wolfdogs were imported from a Russian zoo using counterfeit passports and were a mix of wolf and wolfdog, requiring a licence under the Dangerous Wild Animals Act. The Scottish SPCA said the animals have recovered physically but suffer behavioural damage from the poor conditions and inappropriate use of shock collars.
