The Nice Criminal Court dominated that the person and girl “have been responsible of the offence of abandonment, given the very poor state of well being” of the animals.
It additionally ordered the couple to pay greater than 150,000 euros in damages to animal welfare associations.
The couple lived with a complete of 159 cats and 7 dogs in an 80-square-metre residence in Nice.
In 2023, law enforcement officials responding to a neighbourhood dispute discovered dozens of dehydrated, malnourished animals coated in parasites and lesions in each room of the couple’s home.
In a toilet, investigators additionally discovered the our bodies of no less than two cats and two puppies.
At the tip of the trial the proprietor of the animals, a 68-year-old girl, stated she had no intention of “giving up”.
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“Who would not attraction in opposition to an injustice like this?” she stated.
“It’s like telling a girl she will not have any extra kids,” she added.
“They have been the loves of my life however issues have gone off observe,” the proprietor stated.
She insisted that the residence’s state of disrepair and the situation of her animals have been non permanent.
She stated she was on the lookout for options however had discovered herself helpless due to an an infection that affected the cats and the heatwave that had made her unwell.
A psychiatric evaluation revealed a psychological situation often known as the “Noah syndrome”, or animal hoarding, characterised by an urge to maintain a higher-than-usual variety of animals with out the power to correctly take care of them.
The girl and her 52-year-old companion have been going through eviction proceedings and an 8,000-euro ($8,665) rental debt.
In 2014, the couple had already been the topic of an investigation after they lived with 13 cats and a canine in an 18-square-metre studio.
Several years later the girl took in round 30 cats present in an deserted building, believing that they have been vulnerable to being poisoned. Then the animals reproduced.
