The nongovernmental organization “Societatea Umanaˮ (“Human Society”), which defends the rights of the animals, drew up a petition addressed to the Government and Parliament and is gathering signatures for introducing harsher penalties for those who maltreat animals, IPN reports.

The organization asks amending Article 157 of the Contravention Code and introducing a new article in the Penal Code so as to reduce the number of cases of animal cruelty. “In Moldova, we are witnessing a wave of cruelty to animals. Information about the maltreatment of animals appears daily on the Internet and on TV. Regretfully, the small fines and mild punishments are not enough for holding those to blame accountable. If they are not punished, the offenders will not stop here. They can switch from animals to children,” the organization’s representative Karl Luganov said in a news conference.

The initiators of the petition consider the legislation must be amended so as to change the people’s attitude to animals. “We consider that only by increasing the fines and introducing criminal punishment for cases of cruelty to animals can we stop this phenomenon,” stated Karl Luganov

The petition is available at www.faracruzime.md. The members of the NGO will collect signatures also in the street. The organizers aim to gather 10,000-20,000 signatures.

Psychiatrist Tatiana Nicorici said that according to the International Classification of Diseases, cruelty to animals is at the same level as aggression towards people. “This is a tendency called ‘personality disorder’. Regretfully, we witness an increasing number of such cases and this is a reason for concern. That’s why I think it is very important to make the punishment for healthy people harsher,” she stated.

The current Contravention Code provides that the actions that lead to the mutilation or death of an animal are penalized with a fine of up to 800 lei or with up to 60 hours of community service.