Trial in Feldkirch

Dwarf rabbit simply abandoned in the wild

Judge Verena Wackerle offered the defendant a diversion - but he refused and now has a criminal record.

(Bild: Dorn Chantall)

A heartless pet owner had to answer for cruelty to animals at Feldkirch Provincial Court on Tuesday.

Was it instinct or fate that the two dwarf rabbits survived their owner's heartless actions? It was November 12 of last year when the 39-year-old defendant abandoned the animals in a meadow in Dornbirn, supposedly sealing their fate. Unlike brown hares, this species is generally unable to survive in the wild. Left to their own devices, however, the dwarf rabbits may have accidentally hopped in the right direction. They were eventually found very close to the Dornbirn animal shelter - an almost fateful coincidence.

At the trial on Tuesday afternoon, the man pleaded not guilty to the charge of cruelty to animals despite the clear facts. "I was in financial difficulties at the time and therefore abandoned the rabbits. But I didn't want to torture them. I assumed that they would survive on their own," the accused described his view of the situation in court. His former partner, who was called as a witness, then took the floor and incriminated her ex-partner by stating that, according to her, the 39-year-old was well aware of the helplessness of the animals in the wild.

He had told her that he didn't care at all if the rabbits didn't survive. Despite the threat of a previous conviction for cruelty to animals, the man rejected a diversion offered by Judge Verena Wackerle in the event of a remorseful confession until the end. And so the council sentenced the previously blameless man - not yet legally binding - to a partial fine of 2,400 euros.