Animals Farmer convicted of killing more than 100 penguin chicks
In Argentina, a farmer was sentenced to three years in prison for animal cruelty after killing more than 100 Patagonian penguin chicks on Wednesday. The environmental organization Greenpeace, which had filed a lawsuit in the case, welcomed the verdict.
21.11.2024, 00:36
SDA
The environmental organization interpreted the verdict as an "important step for environmental justice", as Greenpeace announced.
As the Argentinian penal code recommends alternatives to imprisonment for first convictions and sentences of up to three years, it is unlikely that the farmer will actually be imprisoned. The public prosecutor's office had demanded a four-year prison sentence.
Clearing work along a nature reserve
The sheep farmer from the southern Argentinian province of Chubut was found guilty last month of destroying dozens of nests and killing chicks in 2021. This allegedly occurred when he was carrying out clearing work along the Punta Tumbo nature reserve, which is home to one of the most important colonies of Magellanic penguins on the Atlantic coast.
The farmer said he had no choice but to clear the land. The state had failed to establish an access road to his property or a boundary between his farm and the nature reserve.
The Magellanic penguin is not classified as endangered on the Red List of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). This means that the species is not threatened with extinction, even if its numbers are declining.
