Animal welfare

A man was Friday given a 15-month suspended jail sentence and fined 5,000 euros by a misdemeanors court in the town of Igoumenitsa, western Greece, which found him guilty of beating a puppy for grabbing a chicken.
He was also ordered to pay for the cost of the trial. The court did not find any mitigating circumstances in the case. The dog has since found a new home.

Three men on Jan. 27 were sentenced to 10 years in prison apiece for poisoning stray dogs in capital Ankara, according to state-run Anadolu Agency.

The Heavy Penal Court No. 5 in Ankara also imposed a punitive fine of 15,000 Turkish Liras (nearly $2,524) on each defendant, Anadolu Agency cited anonymous sources as saying.

Nine stranded tigers whose plight sparked a wave of public sympathy after they were found emaciated and dehydrated during an odyssey from Italy are slowly recovering after their rescue by two Polish zoos.

From the beginning of 2019 to the end of October, 717 dogs from the shelters of municipal enterprise Ecoravnovesie found a new home, for comparison, for the entire 2018, 600 dogs were adopted. During the same period, 2,260 dogs were neutered, and 286 dogs were treated in the municipal veterinary clinic, 374 backyard dogs were neutered, the Sofia Municipality press office reported.

Human rights non-governmental organization Humane Society International United Kingdom expressed its satisfaction with the decision of the British Queen Elizabeth II to stop wearing genuine leather clothes, AFP reported.

A parliamentary commission has signed a report proposing to prohibit animal circuses and dolphinariums across the country.

The amount of money involved per dog fighting organization goes up to as much as 200,000 euros ($223,000), according to a presentation made at the parliament's Animal Rights Research Commission.

Two Van cats, named "Su" and "Başak," have been nominated for the Istanbul International Cat Beauty Contest, which will be held between Oct. 31 and Nov. 3. The contest will host 200 cats.

Today we celebrate World Animal Day. It is celebrated on St. Francis Day, the patron saint of animals and the environment.

The decision to mark the World Animal Day today was taken in 1931 at the International Congress of Proponents of the Movement for Nature Conservation in Florence, Italy.

In our minds, smuggling is mainly related to the illicit transfer of drugs or alcohol. In recent years, however, there has been a boom in another business - the illegal puppies trade.

The illegal puppies trade brings huge profits. In Europe, dogs can only be exported after they are 15 weeks old and have all the required vaccinations. However, this does not stop greedy breeders.