The woman who owned the poor moggie that was put in a clay pot on top of a burning pole, in a bizarre ritual, finally has been to court.
The Court decided to sentence Rosa Santos, 64, (pictured) to pay a fine of 90 days at €5 per day, which is €450.
The judge who read the sentence in Vila Flor court, explained that the fine can be paid or replaced by community service.
This is the first case under the new mistreatment of pets laws that has resulted in a conviction in the Bragança district.
The lawsuit resulted from complaints from nearly one hundred individuals and animal welfare associations after the cat burning incident was filmed and ended up on social media.
The idea is that the string holding the clay pot burns through and the pot beaks on crashing to the ground, thus releasing the cat, which hardly can be said to enjoy the experience.
The lawyer representing the cat’s interests, Alexandra Reis Moreira , considered this an "appropriate sentence."
The case has seen animal welfare advocates achieve two objectives: to get the case to court and to have the practice of cat-burning, banned.
At this year's June festivities, the population of Mourão no longer used an animal but made do with burning some straw.
Local people claimed that the cat burning was a tradition way of warding off pests, but no one could explain to the court how the ritual of putting a cat in a clay pot on the top of a burning pole could possibly ward off anything.
Police, having been alerted by social media to the Mourão cat burning ritual, were unable to identify any of those involved so the cat’s owner ended up in the dock.
The sentence today states that it has not been proven that there was a tradition of "burning the cat," and even if this was "a tradition, it can only be respected if it is respectable."
This year, no cats were used and the festivities were still fun for all concerned.
The sentence took into account that the locals had decided that they would stop treating cats in this way.
The judges were not best pleased that not one local had come forward to admit responsibility, nor were any witnesses forthcoming, "It is not credible that people did not know, in such a small community, what happened at the event in June 2015."
The cat’s owner was the only one accused: the charge was ‘mistreatment of a companion animal.’
This year’s Feria de Santiago saw plastic balls in the pot, instead of another hapless cat. One of the balls contained a prize of €50 which was more rewarding than tormenting a cat and taking up a huge amount of court time.
Mourão 2015:
