Man Convicted of Animal Cruelty for Keeping Cats in Torturous Conditions

Cats were confined in cages and lived in misery—described by the county veterinarian as "torturous conditions." Now, a man has been convicted of animal cruelty.

In September 2023, the county administrative board visited a farm outside Sundsvall after a neighbor raised the alarm.

They found numerous cats, eight of which were locked in cages.

Two cats were confined in rabbit cages outdoors. Inside a stable, six more cats were locked in two different cages, three in each.

Cats Subjected to Suffering

They lived in dirty bedding, with urine and feces. They had no water and were described by the county board as scared and unmanageable.

When county veterinarian Helén Löfblad described the incident during questioning, she stated that in her 30 years as a veterinarian, she had never encountered anything like it. She said the cats were kept "under torturous conditions" and had been subjected to "severe psychological and physical suffering."

A total of eleven cats were taken into care, one of which had to be euthanized.

Man Convicted – Wife Acquitted

A man in his 60s has now been sentenced to a conditional sentence and daily fines for animal cruelty. He denied the crime, claiming they were wild cats he had captured to euthanize, as they mingled with his and his wife's own cats, and that they were fed and watered daily.

However, the district court found that the man's story was "not credible." It believed he should have understood the risk of the cats suffering but was indifferent to it.

The man's wife, who was also charged, was acquitted. Both she and her husband stated that he was responsible for the cats.