Swiss pensioner in court for feeding neighbour’s cat
Under Swiss law, cats are "other people's property" and systematic feeding and giving a home to another person's cat is considered unlawful appropriation.
Keystone-SDA
Select your language
Generated with artificial intelligence.
Listening: Swiss pensioner in court for feeding neighbour’s cat
A 68-year-old Swiss woman is in court in Zurich on Tuesday, accused of systematically feeding her neighbour's cat "Leo" - a criminal offence in Switzerland - so that the cat no longer wanted to go home.
This content was published on
2 minutes
Keystone-SDA
Deutsch
de
Zürcher Rentnerin steht wegen Katzenfütterns vor Bezirksgericht
Original
Zurich’s public prosecutor is calling for the pensioner to be given a suspended fine (CHF3,600) for unlawful appropriation. The elderly woman also faces an additional fine of CHF800. The case has gone to court as the defendant refused to accept the initial penalty order.
The pensioner is said to have repeatedly fed Leo, who lived in the same building, over a ten-month period and let him into her flat to stay. She did this even after cat’s owner wrote to her to forbid her her from doing so.
According to the penalty order, the woman also adapted her own cat flap so that Leo could enter and leave her home at any time. The result was that Leo never returned to its rightful owner.
Systematic feeding: a criminal offence
Cases like this are increasingly ending up in court because the rightful owners report the “feeders”. Under Swiss law, cats are “other people’s property” and systematic feeding and giving a home to another person’s cat is considered unlawful appropriation.
But if a neighbour’s cats are only fed occasionally, this is not a punishable offence in Switzerland.
Translated from German by DeepL/sb
We select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate them into English. A journalist then reviews the translation for clarity and accuracy before publication. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles. The news stories we select have been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team from news agencies such as Bloomberg or Keystone.
Did you find this explanation helpful? Please fill out the short survey below to help us understand your needs.
External Content
Popular Stories
More
Climate solutions
Switzerland turns train tracks into solar power plants
In Switzerland more people are being referred to electrical therapies or psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy. Are there similar approaches where you live?
Switzerland to give millions to three UN organisations
This content was published on
Switzerland is supporting Unicef, UN Women and the UN Population Fund this year with a total of CHF39 million ($47 million).
Electricity reserves still needed in Switzerland in midterm
This content was published on
Switzerland's energy supply remains uncertain. Electricity reserves are still needed in the medium term, the Federal Electricity Commission (ElCom) said.
ICRC says next few days will be ‘decisive’ for aid to Gaza
This content was published on
The next few days will be absolutely decisive if the Geneva-based International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to continue providing aid in the Gaza Strip, said its director-general Pierre Krähenbühl.
Switzerland unveils a national drought-detection system
This content was published on
Switzerland launched on Thursday a new national system for detecting drought and warning the population and authorities in advance.
Federal coffers to get CHF100 million boost from Swiss Post
This content was published on
Swiss Post will pay a dividend of CHF100 million ($121 million) to the Confederation this year, the company announced on Thursday.
Swiss Federal Railways satisfied with bodycams for transport police
This content was published on
Since the introduction of body-worn cameras, the frequency of assaults on Swiss Federal Railways transport police has fallen by 25%.
Zurich cantonal government to compensate victims of forced labour
This content was published on
Victims of past forced labour measures in canton Zurich could soon apply to receive a one-off solidarity compensation of CHF25,000 ($30,255).
Risk of a real-estate bubble in Switzerland grew in first quarter
This content was published on
The risk of a bubble in the Swiss property market increased slightly in the first three months of the year compared with the previous quarter, says UBS.
French authorities order Nestlé to remove its filtration system
This content was published on
Authorities in the south of France have served formal notice to Nestlé Waters, a subsidiary of the Swiss food giant, to "withdraw within two months" its microfiltration system for its Perrier mineral water.
Switzerland says pushbacks at border by Germany are unlawful
This content was published on
Switzerland considers Germany's planned systematic pushbacks at the border to be contrary to existing law, the department of justice has said.
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.