John Walsh has been fined at a Scottish court

Ronnie Milsop from the Dogs' Trust was speaking after a man pleaded guilty on Tuesday to causing 49 pups and three kittens unnecessary suffering by denying them adequate space, ventilation and water.

He was fined �500 after he was caught trafficking puppies.

John Walsh was also the man who imported the sheep which led to the first case of foot-and-mouth in Northern Ireland two years ago.

He had been jailed for three months in 2001 for illegally bringing sheep to Ireland.

Walsh brought a consignment of sheep into Northern Ireland from Carlisle in Cumbria in February that year at the beginning of the foot-and-mouth outbreak.

They were supposed to go for slaughter at an abattoir but the deal fell through and they ended up instead on a farm in south Armagh. The animals were discovered to have the disease at the end of that month.

The authorities in Northern Ireland said at the time the animals in question had been illegally imported into the province.

But Walsh, who fled to England following the furore over the outbreak, protested his innocence, saying he did not intentionally buy diseased sheep.

On Tuesday, Stranraer Sheriff Court heard that, Walsh, whose address was given as Brampton in Cumbria, had 49 pups and three kittens in the back of his car when he was stopped by police at Cairnryan in July 2003.

Many of them were found to be covered in their own urine and faeces, while others had lice.

Several of the animals required veterinary treatment

Nine of the pups were in such a poor condition that they had to be given emergency treatment by vets.

The court was shown a video of the animals taken by inspectors for the Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

Fining Walsh, Sheriff Brian Adair said he accepted that it had been an error of judgement.

Walsh was also ordered to pay compensation of nearly �2,900 in cost to the SSPCA which took the animals into care.

Speaking after the case, Mr Milsop said: "To stop this, we have to hurt the people who are doing it.

"The only way to do that is heavy fines. �500 is insignificant in this atrocious case of 49 dogs packed into what looks to be just a small vehicle."

Doreen Graham, a spokeswoman for the SSPCA, said the fine was disappointing.

"The �500 is the resale price of just two puppies. The potential for misery for these animals was unbelievably high.

"Given the high temperatures we experienced during the summer, it is a miracle that none of these animals died.

"We are seeing a large number of puppies coming into Scotland from puppy farms in southern Ireland and it is big business," she said.