Oxford University professor and partner found guilty of rabbit cruelty

An Oxford University professor and his partner have been prosecuted for cruelty to their pet rabbit and refusing to allow the poorly animal to be put to sleep.

Professor Anders Kock, 41, who lectures in economics, and partner Xiaoyu Tian, 40, a civil servant, left the creature, called Beano, in such a poor condition RSPCA inspectors found it ridden with maggots and close to death, a court heard.

The couple were found guilty of one offence under the Animal Welfare Act 2006 after a trial - failing to seek veterinary treatment and failing to heed advice to put the rabbit down.

After the trial, Kock – a fellow of St Hilda's College who was given a professorship in 2022 - and Tian, were sentenced at Oxford Magistrates' Court after the trial concluded on October 31.

Kock, originally from Aarhus, Denmark, received a £2,000 fine and Tian, who gave her occupation in court as a civil servant, was handed a £1,000 penalty.

The court heard how RSPCA Inspector Prisca Giddens attended at the couple's terraced home close to Oxford's historic university buildings in the city centre, on August 19 last year.

The visit was organised after the animal charity received a report about a white rabbit at the address that appeared to be suffering from fly strike.

The officer found Beano unresponsive in a small outside kennel and was told by Tian that the pet had been taken to see a vet who had advised that the rabbit was so unwell that the kindest thing to do was to put him to sleep.

Tian said the advice had not been followed as she thought 'there might be a chance the rabbit would survive'.

But, in a statement presented to the court, Insp Giddens said: 'The rabbit was very close to death and I told the defendant he needed to go immediately back to the vets to be put to sleep.

'The defendant held my arms and wouldn't allow me to touch or pick up the rabbit at all.

'She began to cry and shout and this appeared to distress the rabbit, who then began to gasp further and then stopped breathing.'

Beano died during the visit and the inspector examined his body, finding his rear was infested with maggots and his back legs were wet with urine and faeces.

The inspector said: 'The rabbit had no skin at all on a huge area of his body and there was fur unattached where the maggots had eaten the skin and were now burrowing into his body.

'The rabbit's genitals appeared to have been eaten by maggots and there were hundreds crawling in and out of his flesh. There were also many extremely large maggots that led me to believe they had been eating the rabbit alive for a long time, possibly days.'

A vet said the seven-year-old rabbit was brought to him earlier on the day and that his advice to put the animal to sleep was rejected by the owners.

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He said that as the body was infested with adult maggots it would have meant the rabbit suffered unnecessarily for around a week.

The vet said: 'The owners might not have noticed at the beginning, but it would have been too obvious to miss for three or four days. They said the rabbit had not been eating for a few days and had not been actively moving.

'This condition would have been extremely painful for the rabbit and by declining euthanasia the owners prolonged the suffering. 

'If they had brought the rabbit to us a week before they did the rabbit could possibly have been saved as the maggots could possibly have been removed and his dehydration could have been treated.'

Mitigation presented to the court on behalf of both defendants was that neither of them had any previous convictions or had been the subject of previous RSPCA investigations.

Speaking after the hearing, Inspector Giddens said: 'The defendants ignored expert veterinary advice when the kindest thing to do would have been to have had their rabbit to sleep. 

'By not doing so they prolonged his suffering when there really was no need.

'We know making the decision to put a much-loved pet to sleep is incredibly difficult. 

'But we would encourage owners not to put off this difficult decision and to take advice from their vet on when is the right time to say goodbye based on the quality of life their pet has.'

There were no disqualifications imposed on future animal ownership and the defendants were both ordered to pay £500 costs. 

Kock also has an £800 victim surcharge to pay, while Tian was told to pay a £400 surcharge.

Approached at his home, owned by Oxford University, Kock declined to comment.