The leader of PAN, Inês Sousa Real, announced on Tuesday night that the party will report a case of animal abuse confessed by a viewer of a SIC program.
The incident revolves around an episode of the program ‘Terra Nossa’, hosted by César Mourão and broadcast on Saturday night, during which a spectator in the audience confessed to amputating a dog’s paw because it was “too fast,” in São Pedro do Sul.
“It was too fast, so I cut off one of its legs,” he said, eliciting laughter from the audience and the host.
In a social media post, Sousa Real reminded that “mistreating a pet in Portugal is a crime” and declared that “PAN will report the facts confessed on César Mourão’s program to the Public Prosecutor and appeal to SIC not to allow such cases of violence against animals to be normalized on the program”.
“We received this report from a video circulating on social media of an individual on César Mourão’s program admitting to mistreating a dog by amputating a leg, causing significant suffering and agony to the animal,” the PAN leader mentioned in a video.
“Animal maltreatment is a crime in Portugal”, she reiterated.
According to Sousa Real, “PAN will report this case to the Public Prosecutor” and request that they “identify this person and file charges against him” if the facts confessed are verified.
The party will also request that if this man still has this or other animals in his care, they be taken away “because it makes no sense for them to remain with the alleged abuser.”
Additionally, PAN will contact SIC because, despite being an “entertainment program,” “laughter cannot trivialize what is cruelty against animals, particularly against a pet that, in its vulnerability and dependence, is in the care of humans.”
It should be noted that, according to Law No. 69/2014 of August 29, “anyone who, without legitimate reason, inflicts pain, suffering, or any other physical mistreatment on a pet is punishable by imprisonment for up to one year or a fine for up to 120 days.”
If “the acts mentioned in the previous number result in the death of the animal, the loss of an important organ or limb, or a severe and permanent impairment of its locomotion ability, the perpetrator is punishable by imprisonment for up to two years or a fine for up to 240 days.”
