Animal mistreatment: Tigers trainer Mario Masson condemned for ill -treatment

The ten felines of the trainer were confiscated. He was also sentenced to 5,000 euros fine and prohibited animal breeding and presentation to the public for two years.

MO12345lemonde with AFP

The Beauvais Criminal Court sentenced Tigres Mario Masson on Monday, November 28, November 28 to a fine of 5,000 euros and to the confiscation of his ten felines for ill-treatment, learned the France-Presse (AFP) agency with parquet. It is also prohibited for breeding and presentation of animals to the public for two years.

The former Circassian will also have to pay 120,000 euros to the Tonga Terre reception association, for the care of felines in a special refuge in the Loire, since their seizure in late 2020. He will also have to pay more than 127,000 euros in the civil parties, according to lawyers for two of them, animal defense associations One Voice and Stéphane Lamart.

At the end of his trial, which began at the end of September, Mr. Masson was also found guilty of multiple offenses in the Labor Code, Frauds to Allowances and Concentration of income. The court decided to confiscation of the sums entered on its accounts in the amount of 61,000 euros. His lawyer, Olivier ROQUAIN, said to AFP to wait to chat with his client for the launch of a possible procedure on appeal. 2> “locked up in spaces of 2 square meters”

The ten tigers of Mr. Masson had been seized at the end of 2020 in Blacourt, near Beauvais (Oise) as part of an investigation by the parquet floor after a complaint from the One Voice association for “facts of animal abuse “. It had been entrusted to the French Biodiversity Office. The association had also monitored and filmed the felines for several months, revealing the case in a series of videos posted online.

“This is the first time that a circus trainer has been condemned for ill -treatment”, welcomed Muriel Arnal, president of One Voice, with AFP. “These tigers only knew the truck in which they lived, locked in spaces of 2 square meters between bars, and without water,” she said, pointing a “appalling promiscuity for them”.

“We can only be satisfied with this decision which recognizes the discomfort suffered by these tigers”, reacted Patrice Grillon, who represented the association Stéphane Lamart.

/Media reports cited above.