The Hsinchu District Court has sentenced a woman and two men to three months in prison, convertible to a fine of NT$90,000 each, for willful concealment of a raccoon from the Hsinchu Animal Protection and Health Inspection Office.
Chen Mei-ling (陳美鈴) had run an animal shelter in the city, which in March 2016 had been cited for animal abuse and mistreatment, the office said on Tuesday.
During an inspection of the shelter, office personnel had witnessed a cat eating another cat, which corroborated the accusations, it said.
Photo: Copied by Tsai Chang-sheng, Taipei Times
All animals at the shelter, including a raccoon, were moved to the office’s premises, it said
Chen Mei-ling, then 27, encouraged two men, surnamed Shih (史) and Chen (陳), to help her break into the office compound and retrieve the raccoon in November 2016, which she took to her house in Taoyuan’s Jhongli District (中壢), the office said.
The missing raccoon was reported to police, and officers on Feb. 26 last year found the raccoon in her residence and impounded it, the court ruling said.
Chen Mei-ling admitted asking the two men to help her retrieve the raccoon, but maintained that the raccoon was hers and she had not contravened the law, it said.
The two men admitted in court to breaking into the office compound, it said.
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