‘Macabre’ discovery of puppies in freezer

7:02pm Thursday 10th January 2008

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THE sights and smells at Johanna Price's puppy factory were horrific, but it is claimed that an even more "macabre" spectacle was found during her years as an illegal dog breeder.

Price, 71, was this week banned from keeping animals for life after a puppy factory was found at her Bournemouth home.

Police and RSPCA inspectors said they had never seen conditions like the cramped, filth-ridden cages that held 59 dogs.

But a former bailiff found something even more bizarre - frozen dead animals - at one of her former homes.

Steven Smith, who runs the Inn On The Quay in Poole, said he was called to evict Price from Blashford Manor House in Ringwood around six years ago .

He said they found two puppies, a bull's head and horses' hooves in the freezer.

Workmen also found liquefying bodies of dogs buried in plastic bags in the garden.

Dog lover Steven, from Boscombe, said: "It was a bit macabre and upsetting. One of the lads was violently ill when he opened the fridge."

And he said there were "hundreds" of dogs in a manor house stables - whippets, Yorkshire terriers, German shepherds and even peacocks.

Another resident, Michael Bartlett, 65, from Larksfield Avenue, bought a Patterdale terrier pup from Price in the 1980s when she lived at Ringwood, but it died soon after.

Around two years later he saw another advert for a dog and discovered that the vendor was again Price. This time she was holding the dog by its paws and the skin on its ribs.

"The smell coming from the house was filthy," he said.

Price was well-known to the RSPCA. She was convicted of illegal dog breeding in 1992 and 1994 and fined a total of £500.

Her puppy factory was discovered in her two-bedroom house in Shelley Road, Boscombe, in March last year.

The first officer on the scene, PC Dave Hassell, told her trial his senses were overwhelmed by the experience.

"I have been a police officer for 10-and-a-half years and I have never known anything like it," he said.

He was sent out after a report that Price had been swinging a puppy about by its paw - and it was the chance the RSPCA needed after years of suspicion.

RSPCA inspector Jo Story said: "We thought she would have some dogs but everyone was surprised at how many she had."

Ms Price was charged and convicted in October of 15 counts of animal cruelty and one count of illegal breeding.

She cut an eccentric figure during her court appearances - constantly talking, jabbing her defence solicitor with her walking stick and passing him an endless stream of notes.

She was taken ill during the trial and went into a nursing home while awaiting sentence but was sent home after three hours when the home said she was not suitable.

And now she is currently in Christchurch Hospital after what a friend called a stroke - unable to speak and move anything except her arms.

Whether her motivation was financial or not, substantial profits could have been made - the puppies were being sold through Ad Trader for £300 to £475.

The heart of Price's operation was a room with 10 adult dogs and 22 puppies, but the real horror was in a shed in the garden where 26 dogs were kept in stacked cages.

Vet Tom Spencer told Bournemouth magistrates that even after the premises had been ventilated for 10 hours, the levels of ammonia from the animals' urine was "unbearable".

The dogs were mainly Jack Russells, Yorkshire terriers and Patterdale terries, and a parrot was found without feathers.

Food trays in the garden were found full of what looked like slops from a Chinese takeaway.

Some of the rescued dogs were pregnant. Five of the rescued puppies died.

A terrier with a tail wound was put down, as was a Daschund with spinal problems.

• MORE than 150 people called in to rehome Johanna Price's former dogs, including Ty the whippet, in just one day.

The RSPCA helpline had the calls after the 71-year-old was banned from keeping animals for life for running a horrific dog factory.

Ty was a four-month-old pup when Price's Bournemouth house was raided last March and became the favourite of investigating officer Insp Jo Story.

Insp Story said: "I wanted to foster him but my dog wouldn't have got on with him.

"He wasn't in too bad a condition. He had to be de-wormed and de-flead. He was sitting in a cage in the corner on his own and he had another cage on top of him. He looked pretty miserable."

RSPCA press officer Jo Barr said: "The dogs will have special needs after being in kennels for so long."

• Anyone interested in homing the dogs should call 0300 123 8484.