A man who admitted to leaving a cat suffering for two hours in a steel jaw trap he had illegally set in his backyard was convicted on animal cruelty charges in the Port Adelaide Magistrates Court on Friday.
The 71-year-old Rosewater man was convicted on a charge of ill-treatment of an animal in a manner prescribed by the Animal Welfare Regulations 2012, thereby causing serious harm to a cat. He was also convicted for setting a steel jaw trap in contravention of the regulations. (In SA, it is not illegal to own a steel jaw trap, but it is illegal to set one.)
The owner of the four-year-old female cat, named Lunar, stated that her cat was last seen at their home at about 6pm on Saturday 2 March 2024. The next morning the owner made flyers and distributed them around the neighbourhood, alerting people to her pet’s disappearance and providing her contact details if the cat was found.
The owner stated that she was walking in her neighbourhood on Monday 4 March 2024 when she heard her cat meowing. She looked over a fence into the defendant’s yard from a neighbouring premises and saw the defendant. She said words to the effect of “You have my cat. I want my cat back”. The defendant replied that she had no proof the cat was hers and that he was “going to execute the cat”.
The owner then phoned her partner, who attended and also looked into the yard where he says he could see Lunar stuck in a trap. The defendant again refused to give the cat back, whereupon the owner’s partner jumped the fence, released the cat from the trap and handed her to his partner. He then photographed the trap in situ before jumping back over the fence.
The couple rushed Lunar to a veterinary clinic where the injured animal underwent surgery to amputate one of her toes that had been crushed in the trap. After surgery, Lunar required ongoing veterinary care which cost her owners $4177.
Photos provided to police and RSPCA inspectors by the partner of the cat’s owner show that the trap was set beside a hole in the fence, with bricks arranged in a way that funnelled cats entering through the hole to walk directly into the trap.
When an RSPCA SA inspector (accompanied by SA police officers) attended at the defendant’s property on the day after Lunar was rescued, the trap was in the same location and had been reset. The inspector safely discharged the trap with a metal pole before seizing it as evidence.
During a recorded interview, the defendant stated that he knew Lunar was in the trap because his neighbour had told him about two hours prior to the owner locating her cat. He stated that even though he knew the cat was in the trap, he left her there meowing in pain.
In the Port Adelaide Magistrates Court on Friday 14 March 2025, Magistrate Aaron Almeida sentenced the defendant to a six-month good behaviour bond and ordered him to pay $4177 in veterinary costs. His Honour accepted the defendant’s ignorance on the illegality of the trap in combination with his lack of prior criminal history and advanced age of 71 in declining to order a term of imprisonment for the offending.
RSPCA SA Chief Inspector Andrew Baker said he hoped the successful prosecution deterred others from setting the traps.
“These are barbaric devices that inflict terrible injuries and cause enormous suffering,” Inspector Baker said.
“It’s tragic to think that some animals could become trapped and never found, leaving them to die in agony.
“From RSPCA’s perspective, there’s no good reason to own a steel-jaw trap.
“We encourage anyone who has one to turn it into scrap metal so that there is no possibility of it ever falling into the hands of a person who wants to harm animals.”
Under SA’s Animal Welfare Act, the maximum penalty for animal cruelty is $20,000 or two years’ imprisonment. For an aggravated cruelty offence, the maximum penalty is $50,000 or four years’ imprisonment.
RSPCA South Australia is the state’s only animal welfare charity with inspectors empowered to prosecute animal cruelty under SA’s Animal Welfare Act.
Members of the public who witness animal cruelty or neglect are urged to immediately call RSPCA’s 24-hour cruelty report hotline on 1300 477 722.
