A WOMAN has been banned from keeping animals for life after her dog starved to death and was dumped in a wheelie bin.

Kerri Lindo, 24, of Aske Road, Middlesbrough, admitted the charges when she appeared before magistrates in Hartlepool today (June 18).

She left the dog in the care of a youngster, who cannot be named for legal reasons, while she looked after her ill aunt, but claimed not to have known that it was starving to death.

An RSPCA vet, who examined the dead animal, said it had been suffering from severe malnutrition, which led to its death, and hypothermia, which may have accelerated its demise.

John Ellwood, prosecuting, said: "This is an unpleasant case. The defendant's dog was starved to death and then thrown in a wheelie bin.

"At the time a youth was visiting and staying at the defendant's home. The defendant appears to have passed some responsibility for feeding her dog to this youth.

"It has been discovered that the youth has problems and is not capable of being responsible.

"The RSPCA visited this home as a result of complaints twice previously. The dog appeared to be kept outside and the youth was told to provide shelter.

"Nothing of that nature appears to have happened and all that happened was no-one fed the dog so it starved to death.

"The youth collected the dog after it died and threw it in the wheelie bin. The defendant at first seems to say she thought the dog was in good health, but later said she thought it was looking thin. The dog died on December 6 last year and she claimed she saw the dog on December 3 and it appeared well. It would have been three days from death.

"The post mortem said the dog was emaciated and it died from hypothermia or starvation. But the primary cause of death was simply not feeding the dog."

Gary Wood, mitigating, said: "Her aunt was having difficulty with heart problems and was in and out of hospital. She was staying at her aunt's house. She completely accepts that she was the owner of the dog and had responsibility for it.

"The defendant tells me her attention was focused on her aunt and she has maybe not recognised the warning signs.

"The youth has panicked when she found the dog and put it in the bin.

"The defendant tells me she was regularly buying dog food and there were empty cans of dog food in the bin."

Magistrates said Lindo had responsibility for the dog and should have made sure she was there for it '110 per cent of the time'.

They handed her a four-month prison sentence, suspended for 12 months, made her the subject of a 12-month supervision order by probation, and ordered her to carry out 120 hours of unpaid work. She was also ordered to pay £200 costs and an £80 victim surcharge. She was banned from keeping animals for life and cannot apply for the ban to be lifted for at least ten years.