2023-08-30 12:12:00
On June 14, the police made a sordid discovery in a house in Quaregnon: 72 cats and 3 dogs dead in freezers. Two and a half months later, the outraged neighbors launched a petition. The reason: “Neighborhood residents wonder why owner still has dogs in her home, given what was discovered in the house.”
Read also Seventy frozen corpses of domestic animals discovered in the Borinage
Residents of Hector Denis Street complain regarding barking and the smell. According to them, the nuisance continues. “There are times when we do not sleep at night, we hear the dogs howling“, says a resident. According to her words, there would be a real zoo in the property: “There are still dogs, cats, ducks, geese. I don’t understand how it is possible that we left animals for this person.” What particularly worries these Quaregnonais is the well-being of their animals: “We are afraid for our animals, we are always on our guard“says a neighbor.
Worse, another claims to have surprised suspicious actions and that, on several occasions: “We see live cats in bags. It is not normal.“
Where’s the deal?
The file is in the hands of the sanctioning official of the animal welfare unit of the Walloon region. He must determine if the animals have been victims of abuse. “According to the defence, the cats were frozen post-mortem which, without trivializing the facts, does not, a priori, constitute a case of animal abuse. Two months following the macabre discovery, it is therefore logical that a sanction has not yet been taken“, advances Nicolas Yernaux, spokesman for the public service of Wallonia.
Concerning nuisances, it is in particular up to the municipal authority to maintain public order and to enforce the obligation to sterilize animals. “As soon as we have external complaints, we have to do more checks and be attentive“, comments Damien Jenart, mayor of Quaregnon.
45 animals already seized
It was following a tip-off that inspectors from the Animal Welfare Unit and local police raided the property last June and uncovered the horror. “We are really at the borders of reality“, declared then Gaetan Sgualdino, general manager of the SPA La Louvière.Never, in memory, might we have imagined finding such a quantity of corpses of abused animals in a freezer. It’s inconceivable what we experienced yesterday.” In 2021, already, 45 animals had been seized from these same owners who have obviously not given up on owning animals.
Read also “The total horror” in the Borinage: 75 animals found frozen, “Inspectors had never seen that” Quaregnon
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