Abandoning animals in Croatia should soon become a criminal offense with a prison sentence of up to one year, writes Jutarnji list.
It will be part of the new package of amendments to the Criminal Code, which has been under consideration for a year by the working group of the Croatian Ministry of Justice and Administration, and which until now remained on the back burner, so it was not discussed in public at all.
From the documents of the working group working on the new law, it is clear that the Ministry decided in this package of changes to work on strengthening the protection of animals, thus treating the abandonment of animals as a criminal offense.
It is the first time in Croatia that animal abandonment is treated as a criminal offense for which a prison sentence can be imposed, Hina agency reports.
Currently, it is an integral part of the Animal Protection Act, for which a fine of up to 4.000 euros is provided.
In addition to the new criminal offense, the Ministry of Justice and Administration plans to take an additional step in strengthening the criminal law protection of animals, so they are also proposing an increase in prison sentences for killing or torturing animals.
The proposal is that a person who kills an animal without a justifiable reason or severely abuses it, causes it unnecessary pain or exposes it to unnecessary suffering is punished with imprisonment for up to two years (currently the punishment is up to one year), and if the criminal offense is committed out of self-interest, it is proposed is a prison sentence of up to three years, instead of the current two years, writes Jutarnji list.
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