Man banned from keeping animals after abandoning his starving cats for 12 days over Christmas
16.12.2023 - 17:57
/ manchestereveningnews.co.uk
A Wigan man has been banned from keeping animals after abandoning his cats for more than 12 days over Christmas.
RSPCA officers visited Steven Corbett’s home on Christmas Day last year when suspicions were raised he had left his cats alone.
The animal charity managed to make contact with the 26-year-old who confirmed he left the address on December 23 and would return that evening.
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But when officers returned to the Meadow Street address on December 27, they discovered Corbett had not returned as promised.
Inspector Rachel Whalley managed to feed the cats, called Snowy and Nestle, through the letterbox and noticed they were frantically pawing at the food. She then contacted the police and a vet for help in rescuing the animals.
“As soon as I squeezed the food out the cats were ravenous and trying to paw the sachets out of my hands,” she said. “After seeing their behaviour I was extremely concerned for their welfare, especially as I knew they would not have been fed, given water or checked on in days. When I got inside, both cats weren’t microchipped and both were underweight.
“The flat had a lot of clutter and hazards on the floor which would not be safe for cats to be around. There were lots of scattered empty packets of food on the floor near the kitchen, and two empty food bowls.
“I had a look around the flat to ensure that there were only the two cats. I saw two litter trays in the bedroom which were empty and had black plastic bags covering them.
“These contained cigarette butts and there were also a lot of cigarette butts surrounding the trays. There were