A 20-year-old man was sentenced in France on Friday to two years in prison, including eight months, for killing and skinning a cat while filming himself before posting the videos on Snapchat.
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At the beginning of November 2022, the young man posted several videos on the Snapchat social network that showed a cat being slaughtered. In several messages, he explained that he killed the cat by shooting it in the head with a lead bullet.
At first instance, the accused was sentenced to 10 months imprisonment, including 4 months, but the prosecutor’s office appealed this decision. And the Metz Court of Appeal in eastern France increased its sentence on Friday.
“The Court of Appeal was well aware of the facts committed by the accused, the verdict is much more satisfactory than that of the first instance,” Me Laure Vayssade, the association’s lawyer, told AFP. “Stéphane Lamart for the Defense of Animal Rights”.
The SPA, the Brigitte Bardot Foundations, 30 Million Friends and Animal Assistance were also civil parties.
Between 2016 and 2021, the number of attacks on pets increased by 30% to 12,000 recorded facts in 2021 (particularly abuse, serious abuse and cruelty), the French Interior Ministry said at the end of October.
Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin took the opportunity to announce the creation of a department of investigators made up of 15 specialized police officers and gendarmes “specifically in charge of animal cruelty”.
The Animal Cruelty Act, which came into force on November 30, 2021, has tightened the existing penalties: The fact that a “grave abuse” or “cruelty” is committed to an animal can now be punished with up to three years imprisonment and a Fine of 45,000 euros.