Sentenced for a crime of continued animal cruelty
Posted on 12 July 2016.We have won the lawsuit against a man that kept close to 40 equines in terrible condition in Callosa de Segura, Spain. For the first time in the history of El Refugio del Burrito, we obtain a jail sentence for animal abuse. The man has been convicted to 9 months of prison and disqualified to own or work with animals for three years. Besides, we have now become the official owners of the rescued donkeys and mules in the frame of this investigation.
In June 2013, we lead the massive rescue of a group of close to 40 animals that were kept in terrible condition in an illegal farm in Callosa de Segura. Donkeys, mules and horses were extremely thin, with no access to water and fed with rotten vegetables, when they were lucky. They were tied up 24 hours a day and their hooves were very overgrown. The facilities were dangerous, with scrab, rubble, rusty metal sheets and barbed wire in the area where the animals were confined. Besides, the farm did not have the required license to host equines and these were not registered (they had no microchip).
We filed a complaint against the owner for a crime of animal cruelty and soon later obtained an order to temporarily seize the animals. A group of 13 donkeys and mules were transferred to our sanctuary, while 2 had to be put to sleep immediately. The Welfare Team contacted several horse sanctuaries and finally secured 14 horses at the Easy Horse Rescue Centre in Alicante.
The Eurogroup for Animals at the European Parliament addressed a letter to the judge in charge of the case and to the director of the Agricultural Services of Alicante, conveying the concerns of European citizens about this case. We also campaigned for the closure of the farm, through the online platform Change.org.
The 13 donkeys and mules that we rescued three years ago at this site –Chocolate, Bruce, Javier, Manolo, Brad, Cola Cao, Tomás, Paco de Lucía, Victor, Victoria, Simone, Jaime and Apache- are safe in our sanctuary. We have seen them smile lately, as if they knew that justice has been made.
