Dog Killer Cleared By Cracow Court
A man who used dogs to make lard has been cleared by a Krakow Court in a decision that has angered animal rights activists.
The judge ruled that as the dogs had been killed in a humane way and used for "culinary and health purposes", the actual slaughter was not punishable by law.
Nevertheless, Dorota Dabrowska, of the Krakow Animal Protection Agency, holds that the ruling flies in the face of the animal protection act. Poland has no tradition of consuming dogs.
Still, the man may yet spend at least two years in prison for the actual theft of the canines.
In what has turned out to be a bizarre and unsavoury story, it emerged that the 70 year old man had been stealing dogs for some 50 years. Numerous collars were found at his flat in Wieliczka last autumn. He had been selling 'smalec' - a Polish delicacy - to neighbours, who were entirely unaware of the pots' provenance.