The District Court in Krakow has found a man accused of producing lard from dog fat not guilty. This is the first such ruling in a series of similar cases in Poland.
Click on the audio icon above to listen to the report by Alicja Baczynska.
The court ruling was based on the premise that the charged male had slaughtered canines for allegedly legitimate, that is culinary and health purposes, and that the dogs were killed in a humanitarian way. The judge pointed out that the relevant regulations do not specify which animal species may be killed as part of trade.
The court’s decision, however, runs counter to the animal protection act and the animal slaughter and killing regulations, says Dorota Dąbrowska, from the Krakow Animal Protection Association.