Prague - The Supreme Court has come up with a good news for dog pound operators: abandoned dogs belong to the state (in line with municipal laws currently in force) and the state therefore has to take care of them. That means to pay for such care.
This is the latest verdict in a dispute between Eugenie Sychrovská and the Czech Republic. The state has to pay her for care for abandoned dogs. How much she will get will be decided by the City Court in Prague.
In her established dog pound near Prague, Mrs. Sychrovská took care for unwanted dogs, while authorities helped her finance the pound operation. A change came in 2004, when the state said it would no longer pay for the ten dogs in the pound.
The woman financed the pound operation on her own for almost three years, but filed a lawsuit against the state, demanding nearly CZK 50,000 in compensation. After a few years of difficulties, she succeeded at the Supreme Court that complied with her appeal.
The judges decided that the state has to take care of dogs whom their owners abandoned for instance for health and financial reasons or because they moved to pensioners house.
Pounds cheaper than stray dogs
In line with law, such a dog is abandoned and become property of the state or a municipality.
During the dispute, the state argued that people did not actually abandon their dog, but handed it to a pound and signed an agreement with the pound. But the Supreme Court did not accept the "excuse".
"If a dog owner hands over his dog to a dog pound and expresses his will to leave the dog, then the ownership right to the abandoned dog passes to the state (...), unless such conduct, with respect to circumstances of an individual case, contravenes good manners," Supreme Court chairwoman Iva Brožová said in her explanation of the verdict.
According to the court, paying for dog food is more advantageous for the state than dealing with problems that would occur if people stopped giving their dogs to pounds.
Abandoning doesn't always mean cruelty
The Supreme Court also stood against the appellate court opinion that by leaving a dog in a pound people automatically commit cruelty on an animal and could face prosecution.
"Such an interpretation would only lead to an increased frequency of inhuman treatment of dogs in the form of putting them to death, releasing them into nature, tethering them to a three et cetera," the Supreme Court said.
The court also gave a recommendation to municipalities regarding where to take money for care for abandoned dogs.
"... under the laws currently in force, a municipality possesses the right to abandoned things, that also means dog. Municipalities can partly prevent negative impacts linked to responsibility for their nourishment by imposing local dog fees at the maximum possible level," the judges said.
Adapted by Prague Daily Monitor.
