{"id":80723,"date":"2026-08-26T08:47:15","date_gmt":"2026-08-26T08:47:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/80723\/"},"modified":"2026-08-26T08:47:15","modified_gmt":"2026-08-26T08:47:15","slug":"hobart-woman-karen-blake-ordered-to-pay-27k-after-kittens-found-in-freezer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/80723\/","title":{"rendered":"Hobart woman Karen Blake ordered to pay $27k after kittens found in freezer"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Tasmanian woman has been ordered to pay the RSPCA almost $30,000, after almost 70 cats were found living in “squalid” conditions and a dozen kittens were found dead in her freezer.<\/p>\n

WARNING: This story contains details and images depicting the mistreatment of animals which may cause distress<\/p>\n

Karen Maree Blake, 67, pleaded guilty to one count of management of animals, and 21 counts of cruelty to animals, in March.<\/p>\n

In the Hobart Magistrates Court on Wednesday, prosecutor Robert Fisher told the court that RSPCA inspectors attended Blake’s Midway Point home in December 2024 due to a complaint about overbreeding and the living conditions of her cats.<\/p>\n

“Inspectors were met with a powerful smell of urine, faeces and ammonia,” Mx Fisher said.<\/p>\n

“The property was in a state of squalor, rubbish and faeces on every surface.”\"A<\/p>\n

Karen Blake was sentenced to six months imprisonment, wholly suspended for four years \u2014 meaning she will not serve time unless she commits another offence. (Supplied: RSPCA Tasmania)<\/p>\n

Twelve kittens were found dead in her freezer, and several kittens were found decomposing around the house.<\/p>\n

In total, 69 cats and two dogs were surrendered or seized from her property by the RSPCA following that inspection.<\/p>\n

Years of complaints<\/p>\n

Mx Fisher told the court that the RSPCA had attended Blake’s property several times between 2017 and 2024 due to complaints by the public, prompted by the smells and noises coming from her property.<\/p>\n

Blake was a registered cat breeder at the time, but Ms Blake’s defence lawyer, Hope Cooper, told the court she had not sold cats for “quite some time”.<\/p>\n

\"Three<\/p>\n

Karen Blake was a registered cat breeder, though her defence lawyer said she hadn’t sold any for “quite some time”. (Supplied: RSPCA Tasmania)<\/p>\n

Ms Cooper said her client had suffered from several mental health issues, including anxiety, depression and agoraphobia, and has a physical illness which causes her pain, fatigue and sensory issues.<\/p>\n

“She became overwhelmed in her life in 2017 due to the passing of her father and caring for her mother,” she said.<\/p>\n

Ms Cooper said Blake had cooperated with authorities and was glad that someone reported her situation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“She was frozen in her own situation and wasn’t able to reach out for help.”\"A<\/p>\n

The RSPCA says veterinary examinations of the cats identified a range of welfare conditions. (Supplied: RSPCA Tasmania)<\/p>\n

If you or anyone you know needs help:<\/p>\n

Magistrate Chris Webster told the court this was a “very serious” example of cruelty to animals.<\/p>\n

“There was a long history where you were told you weren’t looking after them properly; you should have done something about it,” he said.<\/p>\n

“The number of cats that had died would have been a warning sign to anyone.”<\/p>\n

He sentenced her to six months’ imprisonment, wholly suspended for four years \u2014 meaning she will not serve time unless she commits another offence.<\/p>\n

He made an order to disqualify her from ever owning a cat again in her life and disqualified her from owning any dog \u2014 other than her current dog \u2014 for five years.<\/p>\n

Blake was also ordered to pay the RSPCA $27,000 for the veterinary and boarding costs of the animals they seized.<\/p>\n

\"Two<\/p>\n

RSPCA Tasmania leading inspector Ally Hoyle and inspector J Harlow. (ABC News: Scout Wallen)<\/p>\n

Speaking outside court, Ally Hoyle, leading inspector with RSPCA Tasmania, welcomed the sentence.<\/p>\n

“We are happy with today’s sentence. It is a good outcome for us, and the animals involved.<\/p>\n

“We hope that it is definitely a deterrent in the future for any reoffending.”<\/p>\n

The RSPCA said that while a large number of the cats had to be euthanased, some were able to be rehomed with help from a local cat management facility.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Tasmanian woman has been ordered to pay the RSPCA almost $30,000, after almost 70 cats were found…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":80724,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[54407,6384,22,21,14603,126328,9204,126327,126326,126325,126324,6379,6392,108961,81130],"class_list":["post-80723","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-54407","tag-animal-cruelty","tag-au","tag-austrlia","tag-cat","tag-cat-breeder","tag-cats","tag-freezer","tag-hobart-home","tag-hobart-magistrates-court","tag-karen-blake","tag-kittens","tag-rspca","tag-sentences","tag-squalid"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80723","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=80723"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80723\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/80724"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80723"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80723"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80723"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}