A court in Gandia (Valencia) has sentenced a man to sixteen months in prison for the continued mistreatment of two dogs, which he did not feed and kept surrounded by excrement, and one of which tried to escape by climbing down from a balcony and had to be rescued by the local police.
According to the sentence of the Criminal Court number 1 of Gandia, to which EFE has had access, and which is final, the defendant must also compensate the Animal Welfare Association of the municipality of Bellreguard with 660 euros and 265 euros to the Association of Valencian Lawyers in Animal Defense (AVADA) for civil liability.
The facts date back to November 2020, when the defendant had two dogs in a Bellreguard home in unsanitary conditions, surrounded by feces and excrement, and did not provide them with the relevant food, water and veterinary care, according to the proven facts of sentence.
Specifically, the defendant had a 3-year-old dog tied up on the balcony of the house with a collar, muzzle and an anti-barking device, conditions that caused the dog to fall off the balcony and remain suspended by the neck, until it was released. rescued by an agent of the Bellreguard Local Police and the collaboration of several neighbors.
He kept the other dog, 4 years old, in a bathroom in the house in the same unsanitary situation and also on some occasion hit her on the back with some object, while for a long time he placed very tight muzzles on her and kept her without going outside.
As a consequence of these conditions, the bitches suffered both physical and mental injuries, including extreme thinness and evident malnutrition and dehydration, and required analgesic treatment, cleaning and disinfection of wounds on all four extremities and both ears.
The two dogs were confiscated and deposited in the Oliva Animal Protection Agency, after which the first bitch was handed over to its previous owner, who despite claiming civil compensation has not accredited any expense derived from the care or recovery of the bitch.
The Bellreguard Animal Welfare Association was responsible for the initial stay and veterinary expenses of the first bitch, 90 euros, and the total expenses of the second, 570 euros, which has claimed them in this case, in the that the accusation has been exercised by AVADA.
The sentence considers the defendant the author of two continuous crimes of animal abuse and sentences him, for each of them, to eight months in prison, as well as two years of disqualification from practicing a profession related to animals.
The defendant will not go to prison for these events, provided that during the next three years he does not commit a crime again and pays the civil liability to which he has been sentenced.
