Trial in Feldkirch

Winegrower fined for bird netting

The winegrower is known for his Bregenz wine tavern. Now he had to answer for his actions in court.

(Bild: Dorn Chantall/Krone KREATIV)

Bregenz winegrower Josef Möth was found guilty of cruelty to animals at the Feldkirch Regional Court (Vorarlberg) on Tuesday and sentenced to a hefty fine.

The well-known winemaker Josef Möth was sentenced to a partial fine of 28,800 euros. Not legally binding, however. This is because his defense lawyer Florin Reiterer immediately filed an appeal and nullity complaint after the guilty verdict. Möth was convicted because, in the opinion of the court and the experts, he had improperly installed nets on vines. As a result, numerous wild birds became entangled and some died.

The accused winegrower had already pleaded not guilty in the run-up to the trial. His closing statement was similar: "I used nets that are permitted to protect grapes from birds. I reject in the strongest possible terms the fact that the public prosecutor is now saying that it was only important to me to install the nets simply and cheaply, but that I didn't care about the lives of the birds." According to Möth, there is not a single protection measure that has not resulted in a single dead bird.

The ball was set rolling by passers-by in the fall of 2023 after they reported several birds that had become entangled in the winegrower's nets. During an inspection by the authorities, eight dead and three live birds were eventually found. The Association Against Animal Factories (VgT) had already filed charges against the winegrower. Judge Verena Wackerle found the winegrower guilty after extensive evidence proceedings.

In her reasoning, she stated that it was clear that injured or dead birds could never be completely ruled out, but that certain forms of crop protection in terms of covering and mesh size could very well help to minimize the damage as far as possible. In doing so, she relied primarily on the expert opinion of the viticulture expert.