Justice · Animal crueltyCanning Vale dog cruelty: Puppy farmer jailed for nine monthsAired October 28, 2026 at 1:39 PM UTCWritten October 28, 2026 at 1:48 PM UTCRead the write-upThis storyTranscript · LOADING0:07Jiashu Dong received nine months in prison after leaving more than a hundred dogs0:11suffering.0:12About a fifth of the dogs had to be put down, and survivors faced recovery from0:16neglect.0:16What does his punishment change for the rescued dogs and the breeding trade that0:20left them suffering?0:21Magistrate Sandra DeMaio sentenced Dong to nine months in prison and fined him five0:25thousand Australian dollars for breaching orders.0:28He pleaded guilty to thirty-six animal cruelty charges and two charges of breaching0:32a court order.0:33The dogs were discovered in December two thousand and twenty-four, after some0:36escaped and roamed outside the property.0:38A city of Canning Ranger alerted the RSPCA in mid-December.0:42The ranger had already taken two dogs for urgent veterinary attention.0:46Inspectors ultimately found one hundred and five dogs, including puppies and adults.0:50Dong sold puppies from a house in Como that the magistrate called a showroom.0:54He kept the dogs in Canning Vale, another Perth suburb.0:57The court heard he left them in the heat and went to Albany.1:00Temperatures exceeded forty degrees Celsius during the abandonment.1:03DeMaio described the breeding property's conditions as deplorable and horrendous.1:07She rejected Dong's portrayal of himself as a dog lover selling puppies born by1:11accident.1:12I simply do not believe a word he says.1:14She told the court, His story changes like the tides.1:17The court heard Dong bred three hundred and sixty-six live puppies between two1:21thousand and twenty-one and two thousand and twenty-five.1:23The RSPCA estimated three hundred and ninety.1:26It also estimated he could have made one point one seven million Australian dollars1:29from puppy sales.1:31That figure describes potential sales rather than money proven to have reached him.1:35During an earlier two-month trip to China, sixty-five puppies were born.1:39The court heard, that was a separate absence from his trip to Albany.1:42DMo concluded that Dong had invented psychiatric symptoms to explain his behavior.1:47She also noted his professed desire to establish a dog refuge in China.1:51Inspectors found cocker spaniels, cordis, French bulldogs, golden retrievers,1:55grudels, and other mixed breeds.1:57Fayes his had accumulated around the dogs.2:00Some had fresh wounds from fighting, and about fifteen had dental problems.2:03The neglect affected both puppies and adult animals.2:06Other dogs had matted coats, embedded grass seeds, eye and ear infections, or2:11malnutrition.2:12Some had psychological problems.2:13Dong had treated wounds with honey.2:15DeMaio said he'd only allow the RSPCA to take the dogs if it paid for them.2:20She described him as indifferent to their pain and said he'd failed every aspect of2:23their care.2:24DeMaio called for puppy farming to be abolished.2:27Her criticism reached beyond Dong's treatment of individual animals to the business2:30behind it.2:31Puppies were offered to buyers at a showroom while the dogs producing them endured2:35severe neglect elsewhere.2:36Western Australia's Parliament passed the Dog Amendment Stop Puppy Farming Act in2:40December2020, one to better regulate breeding.2:42Some provisions commence after royal assent, while others require proclamation.2:46Which specific reforms were operating by this sentencing isn't clear.2:49Dong was reportedly banned from owning animals in two thousand and twenty-five.2:53That ban's terms and current status also aren't clear.2:56About twenty percent of the dogs had to be euthanized, while up to eighty percent3:00were saved.3:00Senior inspector Jade Palin said seventy to eighty percent of the dogs she'd helped3:04were now living in homes.3:05Those rounded figures describe survival and finding a home separately.3:09They don't give an exact adoption count.3:11Palin welcomed the prison sentence and called it heartwarming that most dogs could3:14be saved.3:15She said people paid substantial amounts for these desirable breeds and would expect3:18them to be well cared for.3:20Pallin said, Seeing the dogs in homes made the work worthwhile Some were living3:24their best lives.3:25She said, while others were trying to live as normally as possible.3:28Many survivors had reached new households, but their recovery from the neglect was3:32still continuing.Explore with HeyDexFollow via RSS
