Cat at the neighbor’s house, owner receives a hefty fine

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This 9-year-old cat has not been able to leave his house since February. Its owner was fined 1,250 euros because her cat was cramped at her neighbor’s house. So since then, going for a walk has been banned. “I’m abusive, actually. I prevent the cat from going out as he wants. As a result, he eats constantly. He got bigger. For his health, it’s catastrophic.”deplores Dominique Valdès, owner of the cat.

Thanks to the cameras he installed, the neighbor criticizes the feline for making marks on his wall and coming to do his business on his terrace. He therefore filed a complaint and had his owner convicted. She now has to pay him 30 euros every time his pet crosses the fence. “Go explain to Rémi that there is a forbidden meaning there. I would like to put up a sign if it works. I’m going to put up a “No entry” sign, it won’t work. Except that’s not how it works.“, she understands.

His fine could even increase. The owner was summoned to court again at the end of the year. A situation considered grotesque by the other neighbors. “Arguing over a passing cat, I find that absurd. Surreal, in fact“, reacted a resident of the town. “In my opinion, justice, they have better things to do than that“, estimates a second resident.

President of a local association for the defense of cats, Bernard Guigon also denounces the absurdity of this situation. “The cat crosses my garden or the cat tore off a tomato plant, it’s completely stupid“, he laments.

But could this conviction set a precedent? Not really according to Me Isabelle Terrain, lawyer at the Marseille bar. “I think that reason will prevail over unreason and that every cat owner will be able to sleep peacefully because we cannot track a cat, it is not possible“For its part, the SPA is worried because this type of decision could discourage potential adopters.