Perth puppy farmer Jia Xu Dong has been sentenced to jail and fined after pleading guilty to a string of animal cruelty offences.
asserted
Dong → sentence → offences
The offences date back to 2024, when more than 100 dogs were found in appalling conditions during the height of summer.
asserted
dogs → date → summer
The RSPCA says several were put down, but up to 80 per cent were saved.
asserted
cent → say → ?
A Perth puppy farmer who kept more than 100 dogs in appalling conditions during the height of summer has been sent to prison, as a magistrate called for the practice to end.
WARNING:
asserted
practice → keep → prison
Readers are advised that this story contains details of animal cruelty, which some people may find distressing.
uncertain
people → advise → cruelty
Many of the dogs, discovered at a Canning Vale property in December 2024, were found to have major health issues and the RSPCA had to put some down.
asserted
RSPCA → discover → some
However, as many as 80 per cent have now been re-homed by the animal protection organisation.
asserted
cent → re → organisation
The canines had been abandoned by Jia Xu Dong at a time when temperatures were exceeding 40 degrees Celsius.
asserted
temperatures → abandon → degrees
Magistrate Sandra De Maio sentenced Dong to nine months in prison and fined him $5,000 for breaching orders.
asserted
Maio → sentence → orders
"The practice of puppy farming should be abolished,"she said.
asserted
abolished,"she → say → farming
Dong had pleaded guilty to 36 charges of animal cruelty, and two charges of breaching a court order.
asserted
Dong → plead → order
'Horrendous' conditions
Magistrate De Maio said Dong had claimed he was a "hapless lover of dogs who sold puppies accidentally born".
asserted
who → say → puppies
She said he was most definitely involved in selling puppies.
asserted
he → say → puppies
"I simply do not believe a word he says," she told the court.
"His story changes like the tides."
asserted
story → believe → tides
She noted that Dong, who had lived in Australia since he was 13, had an interpreter in court but hardly used him.
asserted
he → note → him
Dong had kept the animals at a Canning Vale property in conditions the magistrate described as "deplorable" and "horrendous".
asserted
magistrate → keep → conditions
Puppies were sold at a Como house which the magistrate described as a "showroom".
asserted
magistrate → sell → showroom
Dogs put down
asserted
Dogs → put → ?
A City of Canning ranger told the RSPCA of the situation in December 2024 after dogs had escaped.
asserted
dogs → tell → December
RSPCA inspectors found puppies and adult dogs, including cocker spaniels, corgis, French bulldogs, golden retrievers, groodles, and other mixed breeds.
asserted
inspectors → find → spaniels
There was a build-up of faeces, while some dogs had recent wounds from fights, and about 15 had dental issues.
asserted
15 → be → issues
Others had matted coats, embedded grass seeds, conjunctivitis, ear infections, or were malnourished.
asserted
Others → have → coats
About 20 per cent had to be put down.
asserted
cent → have → ?
The court heard Dong had abandoned them "in the heat" and gone to Albany.
asserted
Dong → hear → Albany
During an earlier two-month trip Dong made to China, 65 puppies were born, the court heard.
asserted
court → make → China
Magistrate De Maio said Dong was "uncaring of their welfare and indifferent to their pain," and "he'd failed them entirely in all aspects of their care".
asserted
he → say → care
She said Dong, who had been treating wounds with honey, would only allow the RSPCA to take the dogs if they paid for them.
asserted
they → say → them
The magistrate said Dong had concocted psychiatric symptoms to explain his behaviour and had even "professed a desire" to start a dog refuge in China.
asserted
Dong → say → China
The court heard Dong bred 366 live puppies between 2021 and 2025, although the RSPCA's estimate was 390.
asserted
estimate → hear → 2021
The RSPCA had estimated Dong could have made $1.17 million from puppy sales.
uncertain
Dong → estimate → sales
Puppies saved
asserted
Puppies → save → ?
Speaking outside court, RSPCA senior inspector Jayde Palin welcomed the prison sentence.
asserted
Palin → speak → sentence
"Where you walk into a house and there's just a mass number of dogs that are all suffering, desirable breeds, that people pay a lot of money for these dogs, you would expect them to be well cared for," she said.
asserted
she → walk → dogs
She said it was "heartwarming" that most of the dogs could be saved, and it was important to see accountability for their treatment.
uncertain
it → say → treatment
"Knowing that there are 70 to 80 per cent of dogs that I have helped that are now in the homes they've deserved ever since they were born, living their best lives or trying to live as normally as possible, I think that makes the job worthwhile," she said.
asserted
she → know → lives
The Aporia
