A man was condemned to a two-year jail term suspended for four years and fined €20,000 on Wednesday after being convicted of mistreating 23 dogs. He was also ordered to pay costs of almost €5,000 to the Association for Abandoned Animals, the Animal Welfare Directorate and the courts.
The court heard how the dogs were found in squalor and in a state of neglect, living in their own waste. Some had not been electronically chipped as required by law. Some were kept in cages so small, they might have been good only for rabbits.
A veterinary report exhibited in court described the scene: The
Simplifying animal welfare enforcement procedures, giving welfare officers more powers and embarking on education campaigns will be the top priorities for newly-appointed Animal Welfare Commissioner Alison Bezzina.
“Most often, abuse and neglect come from people who don’t know any better, or are still stuck to past beliefs about animal welfare,” she told
Times of Malta in an interview.
“Educating them and teaching them the right way would reduce these cases of abuse and neglect naturally. This, in turn, would reduce the strain on the resources of the Animal Welfare Directorate, which is heavily under resourced.”
Bezzina will be working closely with the directorate to find a more efficient way of enforcing the law and bring people to justice.