A pair of ‘hoarders’ have been banned from keeping animals for life after they starved four dogs as they did not want them to go to the toilet in their South London flat. Shuman Rashid, 49, and Suzanne Wimbledon, 42, neglected their large dogs to the extent that they were so emaciated they could barely walk.

Alarm bells rang on March 7 last year when Zsa Zsa, a Great Dane, died in an animal hospital after she collapsed in an emaciated state. Nine days later police and RSPCA inspectors attended the owner’s flat in Woolwich where they found a husky-type dog called Rocky and a Staffie cross called Kiko in similarly neglected states.

RSPCA Inspector Natasha Wallis said: “The small flat appeared to be that of a hoarder’s property. There were multiple boxes stacked on top of one another, with little room to manoeuvre inside. When I stroked Rocky along his back and sides, I could easily feel the bones along his spine, hips and rib cage indicating he was significantly underweight. He appeared wobbly and weak when walking. Kiko had little space to move inside a small cage which only contained a blanket.”

RSPCA Inspector Harriet Daliday said that she was told by a vet that Rashid said he “did not feed his dogs the correct amount to stop them defecating inside the flat”.

Another dog, a Neopolitan Mastiff called Kali, had been rehomed to a new owned by Rashid in January last year. Vet records showed all four dogs had been neglected. A vet testified in court: “Kali was never a healthy weight from August 2018 until January 2022, when she was reportedly rehomed. While Zsa Zsa recorded the lowest possible body condition score between July 2021 up to March 2022 when she died from emaciation.”

Rashid and Wimbledon were instructed to feed the dogs more but claimed it “made the dogs produce more faeces”. The vet added: “They frequently went against veterinary advice and frequently missed arranged appointments to check the weights of both dogs. The dogs attended all their appointments with coats on, even during the summer months, presumably to hide the fact they were severely underweight.”

The pair appeared at Thames Magistrates’ Court for sentencing on January 19. Rashid had pleaded guilty to five offences under the Animal Welfare Act while Wimbledon pleaded guilty to five.

In mitigation, the pair claimed they had done their “incompetent best for the four dogs” but both have disabilities – Rashid has a back injury and Wimbledon is deaf.

The pair were handed 12-week prison sentences which were suspended for 12 months. They were also banned from keeping animals for life.

Speaking after the sentencing, Inspector Wallis said: “It was daily torture for these poor dogs to be kept in this flat – they were being starved in what appeared to be a hoarder’s property. Three of the dogs became emaciated and the other was confined to a cage. The defendants were repeatedly told to increase the dogs’ intake of food, but they didn’t and that is why Zsa Zsa died.

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