Rabbit died of neglect

May 22 2009 by Stephen Robertson, Stirling Observer Friday

A WOMAN who starved her children’s pet rabbit to death was smuggled out of court by pals this week amid fears that she could have been targeted by animal lovers.

Friends formed a human wall round Lynsey McMartin (26) and covered her with a coat and a baby blanket to hide her from photographers after a sheriff said her neglect had caused the rabbit’s drawn-out death.

She was then driven from the court, still hiding under a blanket on the back seat of an elderly Ford Escort.

The incident happened after mother-of-three McMartin quit her home to escape an abusive partner, Stirling Sheriff Court was told on Wednesday.

But she left behind the black and white rabbit, locked in a hutch in her garden without access to food or water, and without bothering to make any arrangements for anyone else to took after it.

Horrified neighbours called in an inspector from the Scottish SPCA, who found it had already died. Its severely emaciated and fly-blown body was behind the hutch bars.

The animal welfare charity tracked McMartin down.

She told an inspector: “I was nowhere near to deal with it and I had other things on my mind.”

A post mortem revealed the rabbit was severely emaciated.

At an earlier hearing, Gail Russell, prosecuting, said: “The body of the rabbit, a female, was infested with maggots, showing it had been dead for some time. The post mortem indicated it had been deprived of food.”

McMartin, of 60 Davidson Street, Whins of Milton, pleaded guilty to causing unnecessary suffering to the rabbit during the period between September 26 and October 1 last year by omitting to provide it with wholesome nutrition.

Lawyer Frazer McCready told the court: “The rabbit was bought for her children but after an initial period they lost interest and the responsibility for looking after it fell on Miss McMartin.

“She accepts she should have made arrangements for others to care for the rabbit.”

He added it was not her intention to keep any domestic pet again.

Sheriff Andrew Cubie told McMartin: “It’s plain from the social work report that you were under domestic pressures and difficulties... but the fact remains that this rabbit was effectively starved to death by reason of your neglect.”

The sheriff fined McMartin, unemployed and living on benefits, £150 and disqualified her from keeping any domestic pet for five years.