Stephen Craig Gapes, 55, of Numurkah pleaded guilty in Shepparton Magistrates’ Court to three counts of animal cruelty — by failing to supervise 350 sheep with the result that unreasonable pain and suffering was caused or likely to be caused, failing to provide the sheep with proper or sufficient feed, and failing to provide veterinary or other appropriate treatment or attention to the flock of sheep.
He also pleaded guilty to two charges of aggravated animal cruelty.
One of those was for acts of cruelty to 18 sheep that resulted in their deaths, while the other was for cruelty to 11 sheep that resulted in the disablement of those animals.
Most of the sheep that were disabled had to be euthanised by animal health and welfare officers.
The court heard that when animal health and welfare officers visited the Numurkah property on June 23, 2024, they found 350 sheep and lambs in one paddock that was very grazed and did not contain any supplementary feed.
Among them were sheep that had either died, or had to be euthanised by officers to stop their suffering.
Many of those sheep were found dead or lying on the ground too weak to move, and some were suffering from injuries from predators.
Post-mortems on some of the dead sheep revealed they had died from starvation, made worse by a severe worm burden.
Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action prosecutor Ashlee Cremona said when interviewed, Gapes said he had had the flu and had not been out on to the farm for a week.
He also said the sheep had been in the same paddock for more than three weeks, and he had not given them any hay “because he believed they had enough feed”.
The court heard when contacted by authorities, Gapes immediately opened the gate to another paddock which had enough feed for the sheep.
Gapes’s solicitor Luke Slater said his client had been “laid up with the flu for at least a week” at the time, and the owner of the property — who did not live there and only visited a few times a year — was overseas.
“He is the only person at that time that my client would contact for assistance,” Mr Slater said.
He also told the court Gapes had worked for the same employer for nearly seven years and continued to do so for the two years since the offence, with the owner writing a letter to the court to say that “not once had he had a problem with livestock”.
Mr Slater said Gapes had no prior history with the courts and said he had “excellent prospects of rehabilitation”.
Ms Cremona said the offending extended for longer than when Gapes had had the flu, saying the worm burden “would have been there for a number of weeks”.
In fining Gapes $10,000, magistrate Mark Sabljak said it was “distressing” hearing the summary read to the court.
“They had a painful death that could have, and should have, been prevented,” he said.
“Once you take into care animals, it’s your responsibility (to care for them).”
Mr Sabljak said aggravating features of the case were the suffering of the 35 sheep and other sheep who were weak, and that their deaths “would have been painful”.
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