10 animal torturers jailed in Hungary per year

200-250 proceedings are initiated because of animal torture every year and an average of 10 defendants go to prison for their crimes. The National Judicial Office told: a total of 48 people have been put behind bars for animal cruelty, magyaridok.hu wrote.

11 people were jailed in 2011, 2012 and 2014, while 9 people were sentenced in 2013 and 6 in 2015. The Animal Protection Act has sanctioned the mistreatment of vertebrate animals so far.

From 2016 keeping dogs on chains is illegal, too. Magyaridok.hu knows that many residents of rural areas give their dogs to the flayers. Flayers say that the number of stray dogs can be multiplied due to the law, especially in larger cities. The ban, however, affects people living in rural areas, since there are many farms with no fences, and the dogs run away without chains. One man said that they will not care about the law, because he is sure that nobody will actually monitor it.

According to Istvan Szilagyi, curator of Feherkereszt Animal Protection League, the legislation has not been communicated well, therefore a lot of people did not know about the law. The expert thinks the term “permanently tethered” will result in several disputes, because the decree does not say anything about the duration.

Magyaridok.hu writes that no one who violates the law is committing any crime, since it does not fall under the Criminal Code. If you see a dog kept on chains, you should inform the clerk and the veterinary service, not the police. After an investigation they can oblige the dog’s owner to fix the errors. If they do not satisfy this they can be fined from HUF 15 thousand to HUF 150 thousand, based on the case.

The animal rights activist said that the provisions of the regulation only determined a direction to follow. In Hungary, one and a half million vaccinated and at least an equal number of unregistered dogs live. The permanently-tethered dogs can become aggressive and attack someone, if they are released, magyaridok.hu wrote.

Copy editor: bm

Source: http://magyaridok.hu