Μake us preferred on Google A Thessaloniki court has sentenced a woman to 10 months in prison, suspended for three years, after finding her guilty of striking her neighbor’s cat with a metal broom handle and seriously injuring the animal, a development emanating from a tougher legislative framework against animal cruelty.
The case came before a Thessaloniki single-member misdemeanor court following a complaint by the cat’s owner. The incident occurred in October 2024, when the woman allegedly struck the animal, causing a compound fracture of its right hind leg. The cat required surgery, during which a metal plate was inserted to repair the injury.
The court found the woman guilty of animal abuse, property damage related to the cat’s medical and hospitalization expenses, insult and threats.
In her defense, the woman denied any involvement in the animal’s injury.
The ruling comes amid renewed public scrutiny of animal cruelty and the enforcement of Greece’s strengthened animal welfare legislation. In recent months, cases involving the killing of cats and dogs, animal abandonment and neglect have prompted arrests, substantial administrative fines and felony prosecutions.
In June, a man in Thessaloniki was fined 270,000 euros after allegedly abandoning nine kittens, while authorities in Gastouni, in the western Peloponnese, imposed a 50,000-euro administrative fine on a woman accused of running over and killing a stray dog. In August, a woman on the island of Zakynthos was arrested after allegedly tying a neighbor’s cat to a wall, causing its death. Authorities imposed a 30,000-euro fine.
