Sarreguemines Criminal Court (Moselle) on Friday 4 November sentenced a 20-year-old man to ten months in prison, including six months suspended, for killing a cat and then cutting it up while filming himself before sending the videos on Snapchat.

The court combined the sentence with an enhanced suspended sentence of two years, a lifetime ban on keeping animals and duties to look after oneself and work. At the immediate hearing, the prosecution had requested a prison sentence of three years, including one year with an enhanced suspended sentence.

On Wednesday, the young man had posted several videos on the social network Snapchat, showing him slaughtering a cat. In several messages, he explained that he had killed the cat by shooting it in the head with a lead bullet.

“You don’t kill an animal because it has defecated next to its litter box”

“All the civil parties were quite disappointed with the sentence handed down, quite lightly, given the seriousness of the facts”responded Me Laure Vayssade, lawyer for the Stéphane Lamart association for “defense of animal rights”. “You don’t kill an animal because it has pooped next to its litter, especially when it’s an animal you’ve had for two days and needs time to adjust”she added.

“We are concerned, we wonder about the potential danger that this person poses to animals, but not only”, responded Christophe Marie, spokesperson for the Brigitte Bardot Foundation. SPA, the foundations 30 million friends and Assistance for animals had also brought civil cases.

Between 2016 and 2021, the number of attacks on domestic animals increased by 30%, with 12,000 observed facts (mistreatment, serious mistreatment and cruelty in particular), announced at the end of October by the Ministry of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin . The latter took the opportunity to announce the creation of a department of investigators, consisting of 15 specialized police officers and gendarmes in charge of “special animal cruelty”.