A BALLYFERMOT man who kept a female jaguar and another wild cat in his garage has been jailed for three months for cruelty. Derek O'Driscoll (23), of Crosswood Park, pleaded guilty in Kilmainham District Court yesterday to causing unnecessary suffering to the jaguar and serval and keeping them in cruel conditions.
Det Sgt Gerard Kelly said that on April 17th, 1996, he forced open the door of a locked garage while conducting a drugs search at O'Driscoll's home. Inside he found the two cats. The African serval, about the size of a collie dog, was in a cage three feet by two feet by one foot.
There was no sign of food or water and there was a strong stench of urine. She was growling and snarling in an agitated way. The door of the cage was a shelf from a fridge propped up by a block.
He also found a 2 1/2 year old female jaguar in a wire mesh pen. The 12 foot by ninefoot pen contained the cat, a half eaten pig's head, wood shavings but no water. She was in good condition but Sgt Kelly said the cage was too small for that size of animal and her diet was insufficient. If she was kept there for longer than three months she would suffer.
Also, the door was unlocked and children could gain access to the pen. There was no natural lighting in the garage which caused physical and mental distress to both animals. They were sedated and taken to Dublin Zoo.
Sentencing O'Driscoll to three months, Judge Gillian Hussey said: "If either of those animals had got out, I don't want to contemplate what might happen. As an animal lover I am sickened by the way they were locked up, which can only suggest a depraved mind."