For the well-being of his animals, he had installed a radio station in his pasture, in the territory of the commune of Beaufort. It was there that he too had set up a caravan, in which he had lived for two years following his eviction from his home. “A poor man who lost everything,” explained his lawyer before the Lons-le-Saunier criminal court, where he appeared this Friday, November 15 for animal abuse.
A “poor man” who loved animals, living surrounded by poultry, sheep, a dozen dogs and even a horse… He did not fail to repeat this love on the stand, in an attempt to respond to accusations of mistreatment, abandonment of animals or even lack of administrative documents relating to animal breeding.
A dead horse… but from what?
It had been the subject of several checks by the veterinary services and anomalies had been noted, both in terms of watering, housing, animal care and maintenance of the land where various residues, cardboard boxes, scrap metal were lying around. … A witness even came from Cesancey several times to water the horse. But in vain: the animal ended up dying and its corpse remained on the ground for several days, in a state of decomposition.
However, speaking of “his last stallion aged 11”, the defendant denied having voluntarily abandoned him. He loved this horse and had always loved animals. He “never did them the slightest harm”. According to him – who studied agriculture – the horse died of “piroplasmosis and not from mistreatment”.
Animals swapped for vegetables
For Me Chancenot, his lawyer, his client's problem was “that he still lived in the old way, in the countryside, surrounded by farmyard animals, which he bartered in the region's markets in return for vegetables and other plants recovered. And prohibiting him from keeping animals would not be bearable for him.”
The court granted this “favor” to the defendant by not prohibiting him from keeping animals. But the man still received a three-month suspended prison sentence and a fine of 300 euros for the absence of proof of collection of dead animals on his farm.
In accordance with our editorial charter, the identity of defendants is not revealed for sentences of less than one year in prison with a committal warrant or two years in prison without a committal warrant.
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