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This is happening in Verona, Italy.
Leaving a dog for hours on the balcony of your house is to risk paying a fine of up to 500 euros. Verona is ready to do anything to protect the best of man’s friends, with many law enforcement officers.
Article 727 of the Italian Penal Code clearly states that “anyone who abandons a pet or has acquired a habit of captivity shall be punished by imprisonment of up to one year or a fine of the same penalty is applied to anyone who has animals in conditions that are incompatible with their nature and which cause serious suffering. “In fact, keeping your dog on the balcony would not be a crime unless the dog suffers.
During the summer, temperatures can reach very high levels and leaving an animal in the sun with little water for several hours, or even the whole day, can become a crime. Laura Bocchi, councilor of the city of Verona and animal protection representative, is aware of this and has decided to introduce a new regulation forbidding to leave an animal on the terraces and balconies for too long. The fine starts between a minimum of 25 and a maximum of 500 euros. Owners who leave their animals in the basement and in the condominium, courts are also sanctioned.
As Luigi Altamura, the local police commander, explained at Corriere del Veneto: “There are those who go to work, those who leave, those who even travel for the whole weekend and leave the animal at home. Municipal regulations require us to check the welfare of the animal, its state of health, the availability of water, food and clean spaces conducive to physical exercise. 1 meter is certainly not suitable for this purpose. “Every day, there are many reports of uncontrollable situations, so we trained four police officers specialized in animal welfare, a problem we have been working on for months. “
And there is a lot of work, in the city of Romeo and Juliet, in fact, there is a dog for 10 citizens, including children. Not to mention the foreign tourists who visit the city and often leave their pets in the car, whatever the sun and hot temperatures inside the cabin. In this case, local police, firefighters and veterinary services working 24 hours a day come into play. Even those who use their animals for begging are fined and fined 200 euros.