An 82-year-old man has pleaded guilty to serious mistreatment of domestic animals. A court in Palma on Wednesday sentenced him to twelve months in prison, suspended for two years, for having shot four of his neighbour's cats with a pellet gun.
Over a period up to May 2021, this resident of Palma's Son Cotoner district fired at his neighbour's cats from a window of his house. Four of the cats – Curly, Gris, Nieve and Blanco y Negro – were injured.
Curly suffered a complete obstruction of the urinary tract which ended up requiring surgery. Gris had a pellet embedded in the sternum and suffered a limp for two weeks. Nieve needed surgery to extract three pellets - one in the chest, one in the abdomen and the other in a leg. Blanco y Negro has to be given antibiotics on a regular basis.
He has agreed to pay compensation for vets' fees and moral damages amounting to 3,963 euros. Of this, 1,063 euros were paid before the court hearing. The Prosecutor's Office accepted that this was a mitigating factor in the demand for compensation. The prison sentence was suspended for two years, during which time he must not commit any crime and must pay the remaining amount of compensation - 2,900 euros.