13th September 2025
A terrierman has been banned from keeping dogs after admitting causing unnecessary suffering when he failed to have injuries treated.
Daniel Eldridge, 61, did not seek veterinary help for his Patterdale terrier called Spud after it twice suffered severe facial wounds.
Norwich Magistrates’ Court was told the dog had been deliberately put into “digs” and had probably been injured in fights with badgers.
Prosecutor Joel Wootton said the severity of the injuries would have been “obvious to any reasonable owner”.
He said Eldridge had failed to call a vet or obtain appropriate pain relief despite the dog needing facial surgery and being in “a substantial level of pain”.
Eldridge, of Glemsford, near Sudbury in Suffolk, admitted two charges of causing unnecessary suffering.
The offences date back to 2021 and 2023 and occurred at Marshland St James, near Wisbech.
He initially denied animal cruelty but later changed his plea to guilty on the day of a planned trial following an RSPCA investigation.
He also admitted illegal tail docking of terrier puppies between May and June 2021.
As part of a basis of plea, prosecutors offered no evidence in two further charges of causing suffering to another Patterdale terrier called Sam and the possession of parts of a dead badger, a protected series.
Piers Walter, mitigating, said “these dogs were his life” but that he now admitted injuries “were not dealt with in the way that they should have been”.
“This is a man who had loved and cared for dogs for 40 or 50 years with no incidents at all,” he added.
“He was struggling with cultural shifts over the rules and culture of hunting. He does recognise that he has done wrong.”
District Judge Matthew Bone sentenced him to a 12 month community order with rehabilitation days and 120 hours unpaid work.
He also disqualified him from keeping dogs for two years, adding it would have been longer if he had not voluntarily given up nine dogs.
Eldridge was also ordered to pay £1,000 towards the costs of the investigation.
2 YEAR BAN??????????????HOW STUPID IS THAT, SCUM LIKE THIS WILL NEVER CHANGE AND IN 2 YEARS TIME HE WILL BE AT IT AGAIN MAKING ALL ANIMALS SUFFER, EVIL BASTARDS LIKE THIS SHOULD BE LOCKED UP THEY ARE THE SCUM OF THE EARTH.