In the first trial of animal cruelty on dairy farms in the Swabian town of Bad Grönenbach, two farmers have had to answer to the Memmingen district court since Tuesday. As expected, the two 68 and 25-year-old defendants, father Johann Baptist H. and his son Florian H., did not comment on the allegations at the beginning of the trial. Your defense lawyers announced that this would initially remain the case for the remaining days of the negotiations.
During the hour and a half of the indictment, the public prosecutor listed the suffering of numerous animals on the accused’s three farms. The process involves a total of 54 cattle. In most cases, the accused are accused of not separating sick animals in a sick bay in the barn and of not calling a veterinarian.
The cows had to suffer considerably for a long time as a result, and several animals had to be slaughtered. The two farmers are said to have ignored instructions from the veterinary authorities to call veterinarians to treat the sick cows. According to the investigators, calves, some only a few days old, with pneumonia and intestinal inflammation were also left alone. The young animals had shortness of breath and experienced this as life-threatening, said the prosecutor. Nevertheless, the farmers are said not to have taken care of them and have disposed of dead animals on a carcass heap. Older animals are often lame cows that could hardly walk and were also not treated.
In 2019, investigators targeted several Allgäu companies
According to the indictment, the accused were “completely unsuitable in character” to keep animals. The process is also about a ban on keeping animals for the two accused. It had previously been ordered by the Unterallgäu District Office. Father and son are said to have ignored this and continued to keep animals. This, too, has now been brought before the district court.
In total, the prosecutor’s office presented five charges with various allegations. The father is said to have bought 15 cows and not paid the price of more than 28,000 euros for them. Both suspects are also said to have failed to pay social security contributions for employees of around 100,000 euros as required.
According to the court, the two farmers had either remained silent on the allegations or denied them. Therefore, extensive evidence is required. The criminal court has therefore planned 14 more days of trial, the verdict could be announced at the end of October.
The company in Bad Grönenbach (Unterallgäu district) hit the headlines in 2019 in the course of the so-called Allgäu animal welfare scandal. At that time, several Allgäu companies were targeted by investigators after an animal protection organization published video recordings that are said to show cases of animal cruelty on a large Bad Grönenbach company. Among other things, you could see how a cow is pulled through the stable with its leg attached to a tractor. The public prosecutor’s office in Memmingen has brought charges against the manager and employees of this company, a trial date has not yet been set.
In December 2021, the Kempten Regional Court had already imposed suspended sentences in another case against three Oberallgäu farmers. The parents and their adult son had neglected some of their cattle for a long time. Several animals had to be killed because of their suffering after controls.