– The duty officer at the Jawor District Police Headquarters received information from an employee of the Jawor Society for the Protection of Animals that animals left unattended were in one of the apartments located in the city center – reports senior officer Aleksandra Pieprzycka of the Lower Silesian Provincial Police Headquarters.
She adds: – According to the information provided by the reporting person, their owner had gone abroad more than two weeks earlier and had not returned. She had also not asked any of the neighbors to care for the animals.
There was reportedly a dog and a cat in the apartment. The police went to the indicated address. They heard a dog barking through the closed door. As it was impossible to contact the apartment’s owner or members of her family, and in order to check the animals’ condition, it was decided to enter the premises. The spokesperson said: – Firefighters from the Jawor District Headquarters of the State Fire Service opened the apartment window using specialized equipment. The interior was untidy, and animal excrement was scattered across the floor. One of the rooms contained a dog, a cat and a hamster. The animals were emaciated and very dirty, and were walking through their own excrement. There were no bowls with water or food in the room. A volunteer from TOZ Jawor took the animals to a shelter, where they were given water and properly cared for.
Investigators from the Jawor District Police Headquarters are now conducting proceedings concerning animal cruelty. As senior officer A. Pieprzycka explains: – This act bears the characteristics of an offense specified in the provisions of the Animal Protection Act. This crime is punishable by up to two years’ imprisonment. The police investigation will establish the exact circumstances of the case.
The officers remind us:
We remind you that an animal, as a living being capable of feeling suffering, is not a thing. Humans owe it respect, protection and care. Under Article 6 of the Animal Protection Act, cruelty to animals means inflicting or knowingly allowing pain or suffering to be inflicted, including by:
- keeping animals in unsuitable living conditions, including keeping them in a state of gross neglect or squalor, or in rooms or cages that prevent them from maintaining a natural position;
- keeping an animal without adequate food or water for a period exceeding the minimum needs appropriate to its species;
- abandoning an animal, particularly a dog or cat, by its owner or another person under whose care the animal remains.
Under the Act, it is also prohibited to keep domestic animals tethered continuously for more than 12 hours per day, or in a manner that causes them bodily injury or suffering and does not provide the necessary freedom of movement. The tether may not be shorter than 3 meters.