Five months after the discovery of poorly cared for pigs, the Ansbach public prosecutor’s office has filed charges against a farmer couple and their son. The family is accused of killing and cruelly abusing vertebrates. According to the public prosecutor, the 65 and 63-year-old couple kept 1,300 animals in their pig farm in the Ansbach district.
From the beginning of 2021 to the end of 2022, the pigs received too little feed and water in a poorly lit barn. According to the information, signs of cannibalism were found in 900 animals. The pigs were not given any activity material and there was no veterinary treatment. As a result, the animals suffered pain.
In addition, 193 pigs had died and been left in the barn. Because the 40-year-old son had looked after the company from November 2022, charges were also brought against him. The District Court of Ansbach will now decide whether the charges will be admitted and whether the main proceedings will be opened.
Further process in the Allgäu animal protection scandal
Another trial for animal cruelty is pending in Memmingen. As part of the legal processing of the Allgäu animal welfare scandal, further proceedings against three farmers will begin on Monday at the Memmingen District Court. They are said to be responsible for the fact that 32 sick cattle were not treated by veterinarians. As a result, the cows are said to have suffered unnecessarily. More than half of the animals then had to be slaughtered or euthanized, and some cattle had already died.
The 37 to 67-year-old men, a father and his two sons, are accused of numerous violations of the Animal Welfare Act in the indictment. You face up to three years in prison. The accused’s farm is in Bad Grönenbach, where the animal welfare scandal began four years ago. At the time, an animal protection organization had published a video that was supposed to show animal cruelty from a large company. As a result, the authorities investigated several companies.
In a larger trial at the end of 2022, two men, also father and son, were convicted. The father received a suspended sentence in the first instance, while his son is to go to prison for two years and ten months. However, the verdict is not yet final, as both had appealed.
The largest case in the complex is expected to be heard in Memmingen from October. Here five men and one woman are accused of 58 neglected cattle.