A DOG breeder whose kennels were once targeted by animal rights protestors has been found dead at her home near Maidstone.

Carole Welbourne, of Fosters, in Benover Road, Yalding, was aged 59. An inquest has been opened and adjourned. Police are not treating the death as suspicious.

Animal protestors from the Cardiff-based It's a Dog's Life demonstrated outside the kennels in June, campaigning against puppy farming.

But a Maidstone council spokesman later confirmed Fosters had two licences, one for the breeding of dogs and the other as a pet shop, and was subject to annual inspection and checks.

Mrs Welbourne was also found not guilty of causing or permitting unnecessary suffering to a puppy at Maidstone Magistrates' Court in 2002.