The Court decrees the opening of the Oral Trial and the Prosecutor’s Office requests prison sentences and special disqualification for possession and activities with animals, for 24 crimes of animal abuse, two of them resulting in death.
The Asociación Protectora de Animales Galgos del Sur is requesting sentences of three and a half years in prison and six years of disqualification against the two hunters accused in the case of the finca de los horrores de Cabra (Córdoba), where 22 dogs were rescued in terrible conditions of abandonment and animal abuse and two others died.
In addition, the Court of First Instance and Instruction number 1 of the town has decreed the opening of Oral Trial against these two men for a continuous crime of animal mistreatment.
For its part, the Provincial Prosecutor’s Office of Cordoba has presented an indictment to the Court, requesting that each of the accused be sentenced to 18 months imprisonment and four years of special disqualification from working and trading with animals, as well as from keeping animals. All this for two offences of animal abuse resulting in death and 22 offences of animal abuse.
According to the written statement, the two accused hunters kept a total of 29 dogs, including greyhounds, hounds, crossbreeds and a mastiff. All of them were in the care of the two men on the Arroyo de Caballos estate, without the place meeting the appropriate hygienic and sanitary conditions to be declared a zoological centre.
CHAINED DOGS AND UNSANITARY CONDITIONS
“They tied some of the animals with chains to the olive trees on the farm, with no water, no food, no shelter and surrounded by dirt and bones of other deceased dogs as well as drums and containers with sharp edges,” the prosecution’s indictment states.
In addition, “they placed other animals in an enclosure, with rubbish and excrement from the animals themselves, being fed only with pig carcasses thrown on dirt and unhealthy water”, it continues. According to the prosecutor, they did all this by “knowingly” endangering the physical integrity and life of these 24 dogs, by failing to provide them with basic and essential care for their subsistence.
TWO DOGS DIED
Due to this situation of abandonment and the lack of the most basic care for these animals, two of the dogs died. One was found lifeless by officers of the Cabra Local Police in a perimeter fence near the entrance to the enclosure.
In addition to this dog, another dog, a Belgian shepherd, suffered serious injuries such as cachexia (extreme thinness), tachypnoea, tachycardia, pale mucous membranes, dehydration, malnutrition and bilateral pneumonia. As a result, the dog died after being humanely euthanised to prevent further suffering.
The remaining 22 dogs that were rescued by Galgos del Sur were not spared from injuries and illnesses of varying severity and consideration, as they suffered from leishmania, cachexia, dehydration, fever, weakness, pyometra, epistaxis, tail amputations, dermatitis, pododermatitis, conjunctivitis, pustules, alopecia and wounds caused by fights and sharp objects.
In some cases, the injuries and ailments caused by this situation of abandonment and animal mistreatment that they suffered resulted in “chronic ailments that require permanent veterinary assistance”, concludes the prosecutor’s statement.
The private prosecution is being exercised by the protective Galgos del Sur, through the lawyer Dulce Aguilera, owner of the firm Justicia-Animales & Medio Ambiente, which specialises in Animal Law.
In addition to agreeing to the opening of the Oral Trial for a continuous offence of animal abuse, the Court ordered the two hunters to pay a bail of 4,058 euros within 24 hours.
