Never before have state animal protection authorities received so many complaints about the owners of both pets and livestock in Norway. Many more of those responsible for animals also were fined, reported to police or legally denied the right to own animals.
Newspaper Aftenposten reported this week that the state agency responsible for animal welfare, Mattilsynet, received nearly 4,000 complaints just between May and August. Inspectors took up more than 1,000 of the cases and another 773 are waiting to be addressed.
Around 45 percent of the complaints led to punitive action against the owners of animals, mostly for neglect or violating other regulations surrounding their care and feeding.
There have been several cases of farmers neglecting their livestock in recent years. “It’s especially those raising hogs, but also sheep and cattle, who’ve been ordered to make improvements,” Torunn Knævelsrud of Mattilsynet told Aftenposten. She said there also was a rise in the number of inspectors sent out to monitor conditions at hog and sheep ranches, based on complaints filed with the agency.
newsinenglish.no staff
