January 23
From: Owner
Sent: Saturday, 23 January 2010 9:20 AM
To: RSPCA
Subject: Treatment of animals on our property by housesitter
Importance: High
Dear Patrick,
We returned to our property at 5 pm, January 13, accompanied by two officers from Childers Police Station. They are witnesses to the condition of the property when we returned. They also facilitated the departure of the house sitter, Jaye-Cee. When she drove off she left her dog behind, and had to be told by the police to take it with her.
Quite frankly, we were disgusted at what we saw. Not only were the house, pool and yards in a disgraceful condition but there was animal feed scattered everywhere. A bag of dog food was in the back of the ute where it had been sitting for two months. It had been attacked by mice, was covered in mould and had to be thrown out.
The food dispenser for the chickens was empty and of the twenty chickens that were there when we left, only 14 remained. They did not start to lay until two days after we returned and it took a week before most were laying regularly. They were not moulting. Subsequently we discovered two of the missing chickens were at a neighbour’s house where she had taken them, and the neighbour said that the sitter had taken three to the vet to be “euthanized”. The vet confirmed this and described them as “they were close to death - very thin, loss of feathers”. I am still waiting for the date of this to be advised by the vet, no bill has been received from him for this, nor presented by the house sitter. We have used the Vet exclusively since he moved to the district and have always been very happy with his services. We feel sad that he was placed in this invidious position. No vet likes to have to put animals down. Presumably the missing chicken had died and been disposed of by the house sitter. These chickens were less than two years old and were in prime condition when we left.
Did you observe the condition of the chickens when you visited on December 19?
After your visit we arranged with another neighbour, XXXXXX (the XXXX had gone on holiday), to regularly visit the property, and ensure the cattle were being fed. XXX procured three lots of feed for us, peanut hay, Lucerne and barley supplement, and delivered it. We transferred $300 into XXX’s bank account to cover this and any other feed required until our return.
The cattle, whilst in good condition when we returned, had ticks on them and were swarming with buffalo fly. We quickly treated them with Cydectin Pour On and they are now fine. The new calf is in good condition. Delilah is a good mother and this is her fifth calf.
Our neighbours, the XXXXX, also said that the house sitter had not been feeding the animals on a regular basis and that Buzz, our dog, had spent most of the time at their place, and that they had been feeding him. This is consistent with the fact that only half a bag (approx 10 kilos) of dry dog food had been used by the sitter in two months, and a significant amount of that was lying on the ground in front of the house. XXXXX stated that when he visited the property one afternoon in late November the house sitter agreed that the cattle had not been fed and XXXX instructed her to put the feed in the troughs provided, not just throw it on the ground.
The sitter later boasted to our neighbours that she had caused problems for a camel farmer whose property in the Northern Territory she had house-sat, and had used the RSPCA to “put him out of business”. This is similar to what she said to my wife (after one too many drinks) the night before we left, except she described him as a buffalo hunter. It is appalling to think that someone would manipulate the RSPCA and mistreat animals for financial gain.
We have discussed with our legal counsel the possibility of taking civil action against her for damages to our property and breach of contract.
Is there any action we can take about the sitter mistreating our animals? We would hate for anybody else to have to go through what we went through. We have dozens of photographs taken after our return and can forward them if required.
From very recent correspondence from the house sitter, sent to us by registered mail, she is currently residing in the Maryborough area, possibly house sitting or a caravan park.
Best regards
XXXXXXXX