One year in prison for abandoning 15 cats in extreme conditions in San Rafael
Penal Court No. 2 of Segovia has sentenced a man to one year in prison and three years of disqualification for leaving 15 cats unattended after abandoning a property in San Rafael.
Sentence of one year's imprisonment for the abandonment of fifteen cats in San Rafael (Segovia)
Penal Court No. 2 of Segovia has imposed a sentence of one year's imprisonment and three years' disqualification from keeping and working with domestic animals on a man who left fifteen cats abandoned inside a property in San Rafael upon the conclusion of his rental contract, according to ABC.
The accused left the property in summer 2024 without notifying the owners or taking any measures to ensure the welfare of the animals. It was the owner who, upon arriving at the property after the tenant's departure, discovered the felines in the courtyard in a state of severe abandonment and alerted the Local Police of El Espinar.
Officers contacted the animal shelter El Refugio, which attended the scene and took charge of fourteen of the animals. The fifteenth did not survive: it died shortly after being transported to the organisation's facilities, unable to overcome the consequences of abandonment.
Conditions described as an "outrage"
The president of El Refugio, Nacho Paunero, described the state in which the animals were found as an "outrage": they were living among their own faeces and urine, presented marked weight loss, malnutrition, injuries, parasites and a marked state of apathy and fear. Paunero noted that had the shelter not intervened, all the cats "could have died".
Among the most serious cases, Paunero recounted that one of the rescued female cats "had a mummified litter inside her", which demonstrated the extreme degree of deterioration to which the animals had been exposed.
The private prosecution sought 15 and a half years
El Refugio appeared as a private prosecution in the proceedings and had requested a total sentence of 15 years and six months. The strategy, Paunero explained, was to "request one offence for each abused animal": twelve months' imprisonment for each of the fourteen surviving cats and eighteen months—the maximum sentence provided for—for the animal that died despite the veterinary treatments administered after its rescue.
Although the court did not accept the full accumulation of sentences requested, the organisation viewed the ruling positively. In statements outside the courthouse, Paunero stated that this is a custodial sentence, which represents "an achievement in the fight against animal abuse and abandonment in Spain".
The criminal route, not the administrative one
Paunero stressed that the case has been resolved through the criminal courts rather than under the Animal Welfare Act, which has an administrative character. He explained that El Refugio acts "always through the criminal courts" and considered that the current Criminal Code, although improvable in his view, offers "sufficient tools to imprison people who do things like this".
The organisation currently has approximately one hundred similar proceedings open in various autonomous communities. The fourteen surviving cats are currently at El Espinar's Adoption Centre, awaiting the judicial decision to become final, a necessary condition for them to be made available for adoption.
Source: ABC