An animal rights activist is outraged after an animal cruelty case involving the mistreatment of dogs was dropped by the courts.

Earlier this week charges against Robert Picco were dropped after the judge found reasonable doubt that the man intentionally starved the animals. Picco’s defence, she reveals, was that he was kicked off the property for 30 days and thus unable to feed the dogs.

Heather Ballard of Rescue NL says there is “outrage” from the animal rights community.

She says they thought this would be an “open and shut case,” but the verdict crushed those dreams.

In her opinion, “there’s no way they didn’t suffer,” citing the vet report and saying the dogs were “days from death.”