On Wednesday, a French couple who lived with nearly 160 cats and seven dogs in their apartment were given a one-year suspended sentence and permanently banned from owning pets.
Nice Criminal Court ruled that the animals were “guilty of abandonment, given their very poor health”.
The court also ordered the couple to pay more than 150,000 euros (US$162,000) in damages to an animal rights organization.
The couple lived in an 80 square meter (861 square foot) apartment in Nice with a total of 159 cats and seven dogs.
In 2023, police responding to a neighborhood disturbance found dozens of dehydrated and malnourished animals covered in parasites and lesions in each room of the couple's home.
Investigators also found the bodies of at least two cats and two puppies in the bathroom.
Japanese pet owners warn after dozens of house fires involving dogs and cats
Japanese pet owners warn after dozens of house fires involving dogs and cats
At the end of the trial, the animal's owner, a 68-year-old woman, said she had no intention of “giving up.”
“Who wouldn't appeal an injustice like this?” she said.
“It's like telling a woman not to have any more children,” she added.
“They were the love of my life, but things went off the rails,” the owner said.
She insisted that the dilapidated state of her apartment and the condition of her animals were temporary.
She said she was looking for a solution but felt powerless due to the infection and heat wave that affected her cats.
Psychiatric evaluations have determined that Noah syndrome, a mental condition known as animal hoarding, is characterized by a compulsion to keep a larger number of animals than normal, despite the inability to properly care for them. It was revealed.
The woman and her 52-year-old partner were facing eviction proceedings and an €8,000 rent debt.
In 2014, the couple was already under investigation because they lived in a 193-square-foot studio with 13 cats and a dog.
A few years later, a woman found about 30 cats in an abandoned building and took them in, believing they were at risk of being poisoned. Then the animals bred.
