SAHARA Animal Cruelty Case Adjourned Until September
The founders and owners of the South Australian Humane Animal Rescue Association, an animal rescue charity in South Australia, have had their criminal case adjourned for 2 months.
Carole Louise Morris, 58, and Shane Anthony Jones, 54, along with their organisation the SA Humane Animal Rescue Association, have been charged with mistreating and neglecting animals at two properties in the state’s mid-north.
Morris, a resident of Wingfield, has been charged with 11 counts of ill-treatment of an animal under South Australia’s Animal Welfare Act 1985. Jones, of Ramco, has been charged with 5 counts of ill-treatment of an animal.
The South Australian Humane Animal Rescue Association, as an entity, faces 7 charges of ill-treatment of an animal. Morris and Jones, as the managers of SAHARA, have both been charged with 7 counts each as a member of body corporate connected with an offence.
Morris and Jones originally founded their animal rescue charity as “SA Dog Rescue”, but rebranded it as the South Australian Humane Animal Rescue Association in 2019—the same year in which they are alleged to have been mistreating animals in their care.
The SA Department of Environment and Water (DEW)—which is responsible for the enforcement of state animal welfare legislation and oversight of the RSPCA SA—is pursuing charges against the pair for failing to feed and seek veterinary help for multiple animals, and keeping several animals in improper and unsanitary cages while under their care.
Morris and Jones co-own a property at Black Springs, over 130 kilometres north of Adelaide, where they house animals as part of their charity operations. DEW allege that at a Black Springs property between May and August 2019, Morris and Jones failed to provide food for a Staffordshire bull terrier and failed to treat an American bulldog for an ulcer.
DEW alleges the pair did not take appropriate steps to assist a pug at the property between February and August 2019 that was suffering from overgrown toenails, ear infections and dental disease. DEW also alleges Morris and Jones failed to help two more dogs, Maltese-cross breeds with “severely matted coats”.
Morris owns a second property in the Riverland, in Morgan, over 160 kilometres north of Adelaide.
As part of the criminal case against Morris, Jones and SAHARA, the Department of Environment and Water alleges three brushtail possums were kept at a Morgan property in inadequately-sized cages and forced to live in their own faeces. DEW also alleges that a thoroughbred horse was left to suffer from an untreated eye injury, that a pony had been left with overgrown rear hooves, and that a mare was left to suffer from colic and stomatitis.
The case commenced in the Adelaide Magistrates Court earlier this year, on March 30, where the court heard the pair's lawyer had received a "large brief" of evidence.
Today, Magistrate Michelle Sutcliffe said she was "happy for the matter to be adjourned for a pre-trial conference" in September, citing the large amount of evidentiary material that had been received previously by the defendants.
Neither Morris or Jones appeared in court.
Shane Jones (left) and Carol Morris (center), the founders of SA Dog Rescue. (Image: SAHARA via Youtube)
As the criminal case against them progresses, Morris, Jones and SAHARA continue to run their animal rescue charity, which houses animals between 3 properties—the two owned by Morris and Jones in Black Springs and Morgan, and a third in Wingfield, within the Port Adelaide Enfield Council area.
Those Wingfield kennels are owned by Peter Scragg, of Peter Scragg & Associates, an Adelaide lawyer. Scragg is currently representing SAHARA in a separate civil court matter.
SAHARA is a registered charity with the Australian Charities and Not-for-Profits Commission (ACNC). Financial documents submitted to the ACNC by SAHARA show the charity spent $65,700 between 2017-19 on buying animals for their rescue operations, listed under expenses as “Animals Bought”.
According to their website, SAHARA claims to “take in the ill, injured, seniors and animals on death row that are often overlooked, even by other rescues and shelters” and that they “take [their] adoption process very seriously; it may be lengthy but it is designed to ensure that our animals will never experience abandonment or displacement again.”
SAHARA have previously enjoyed years of positive press coverage from local media organisations like Channel Nine and Adelaide’s The Advertiser. Three years ago, the Advertiser ran a fawning story, written by Andrew Dowdell, about Morris giving “final dignity” to a severely neglected dog she had found on the street as it passed away.
“In 17 years of rescuing stray and mistreated dogs, nothing could have prepared Ms Morris for the sight of the female dog…on an Oaklands Park street on Monday,” Dowdell wrote.
“It was like something you would see in a Third World country,” The Advertiser quoted Morris as saying, “I‘ve never seen anything like it, it’s the worst I have seen.”
“Maybe someone didn’t have the money to feed her,” Morris told the paper, “or maybe it got so bad that they were too scared to take her to the vet, I don’t know really.”
“Ms Morris said her organisation would assist anyone unable to look after their dogs,” Dowdell wrote, “and said many people were fearful of being prosecuted criminally.”
The criminal case against Morris, Jones and SAHARA will return to the Adelaide Magistrates Court on September 16.