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Thu 8 Jul, 2004 11:12 pm
ROME (AFP) - Italians who abandon their pets when going on holiday, mistreat animals or arrange cock or dog fights face stiff penalties under legislation approved by the national parliament.
Those convicted of abandoning their cat or dog will face a fine of up to 10,000 euros (12,400 dollars) and a one-year prison sentence. Organising fights will incur a one- to three-year jail stretch and a fine of up to 160,000 euros (198,250 dollars).
"People going on holiday should know now that if they abandon their dog by the roadside they risk ending up in prison, not on the beach," said Senator Guido Calvi, who is leader of the opposition Party of Democrats of the Left group.
"It is a law that responds to the very strong expectations of society," said justice ministry junior minister Jole Santelli, a member of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia party.
Killing an animal without good cause will be punishable by between three and 18 months in prison while mistreating one, including giving it drugs, will incur a three- to 12-month sentence.
Vendors of cat or dog skins risk a year behind bars, a fine of 100,000 euros and the destruction of their stocks
I gather the abandonment at vacation time has been a big problem... huge numbers of people go to the coasts and do a pet dump on the way. Or so I read, not sure how wide spread this really is.
sheesh
must be a lot of cruel and heartless italians
Col Man wrote:sheesh
must be a lot of cruel and heartless italians
Or one bullshit leader of the opposition saying whatever he thinks will win votes.
I wish the Lord had made me a tad less sceptical.
It is not only an Italian thing. We got the same thing here back in the Netherlands. When summer starts, tens of thousands of animals are abandoned by their owners. Dogs, cats, dlowans ehh bunnies, etc. It's just terrible.
Well, italian neighborhood cats have an apparent history of being well taken care of, to judge by the presence of cat "apartments" in Venice or meals for cats put out in the piazzas and at sidewalks in lots of places. There is a fantastic several page description of the cat colony in piazza Vittorio Emannuele in a book by ... thinking, thinking, it's called Rome and a Villa, by Eleanor Clark.
Dogs, I dunno.
ok well theres good and bad in every one
and its ok kev, your a yorkshire man.... your supposed to br skeptical
its all that rain
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