“You don’t need to be a vet to realise that a horse is suffering of malnutrition if its ribs are visible,” vet Duncan Chetcuti Ganado told the court during proceedings against a man who was found guilty of animal cruelty due to negligence.

He was handed down a four month jail term suspended for one year and fined e1,200 after he was found guilty of keeping five horses and seven dogs in bad health conditions at his farm.

Guido Vella, 61 of Mellieha was found guilty of negligence after three police officers, Noah’s Ark founder Fabio Ciappara and vet Duncan Chetcuti Ganado carried out inspections at Vella’s farm in Mellieha on 16 July 2007.

Vella was also found guilty of physically and verbally assaulting the police, Mr Ciappara and Dr Chetcuti Ganado when turning up on site some one hour after the inspection started.

Police officer Silvio Bonnici testified before the court presided over by magistrate Lawrence Quintano that the farm was in a very bad state and that the animals had lack of adequate shelter and were left in the sun without water and food. The farm was in a disastrous state as dogs were kept with rabbits and rabbits were kept with ducks. It was all a mess, he said while adding that puppies were covered in ticks. The horses had little water and food and one of the water pots was full of mosquitoes.

Police Sergeant Eugenio Caruana described the conditions as “pitiful”.

Dr Chetcuti Ganado explained that besides suffering from malnutrition, one of the horses was limping due to a dry muscle and was therefore suffering from a chronic muscle condition which was not being cured. Another horse had hoof problems while a pony was kept in a stable deemed too small. Meanwhile the dogs had skin problems. He said that the farm was filthy with dirt, tires and glass bottles and more resembled a warehouse than a farm. Furthermore, rusty steel barrels stood for boundaries between goats and sheep.

Members from non-governmental organisations were helping Vella organise his farm through funding but everything stopped when funds were no longer forthcoming as Vella made little effort to improve his animals’ living conditions.

They had been trying to convince him to build a proper shelter for the horses in place of a small steel structure for over a year.

Several photos of the animals were presented to the court.

The animals found in bad health conditions were taken away from the farm on the day.

Vella was found guilty of animal cruelty due to negligence and relapsing.

Prosecution was led by Inspector Alex Miruzzi.