The owner of an enclosure in Khmelnytskyi region has been found guilty of animal cruelty and sentenced to five years in prison, but the court commuted the sentence to one year of probation. In November, two lionesses escaped from the enclosure, leading to the death of several animals. This was reported by UNN with reference to the Register of Court Decisions.
Details
Thus, the court established that in 2018, with the aim of carrying out activities related to the keeping and display of wild animals, the man rented non-residential premises where, in violation of legal requirements, he kept particularly dangerous wild animals – lions – in crudely assembled, technically unsuitable, and unadapted enclosures that did not meet their biological and species-specific needs, did not provide sufficient space, proper microclimate, shelter from adverse weather conditions, and safe isolation, thereby creating improper conditions for keeping these animals, which led to their physical suffering, a state of chronic stress, and excluded the possibility of humane treatment of them.
As a result of a gross violation of the requirements of legislation on the protection of animals from cruel treatment, on November 15, 2025, at about 10:30 a.m., two lionesses, under unknown circumstances, voluntarily left their enclosure. Being in a state of uncontrolled aggression caused by improper keeping conditions, these wild animals attacked other animals, resulting in the death of: two rams, six goats, one deer, one alpaca, three falcons, and one cat.
It is reported that the owner of the enclosure unreservedly admitted his guilt in the aforementioned act during the pre-trial investigation, sincerely repented, and actively assisted in solving the criminal offense.
Ultimately, the court approved an agreement between the man and the prosecutor, found him guilty under the article on animal cruelty, and sentenced him to 5 years of imprisonment with confiscation of the two lionesses, but released him from serving the main sentence of imprisonment with probation and set a probationary period of 1 year.
Recall
In Khmelnytskyi, two lionesses escaped from an enclosure at a private rehabilitation center, leading to the death of several animals. The prosecutor's office launched a pre-trial investigation into the fact of animal cruelty.