Slovakian Tiger Smuggler In Austria Fined Just 600 EUR

Story By: Kathryn Quinn, Sub EditorJoseph GolderAgency: Central European News

The zoo worker who smuggled two tiger cubs across the Slovakian border to Austria and kept them in her bathtub has been fined just 600 EUR (522 GBP).

The 34-year-old Slovakian woman faced court in Korneuburg, a town in Lower Austria, escaped a jail sentence after she was accused of breaching EU border rules when both sides agreed on the settlement just minutes into the trial.

The animal carer named only as Yagmut S. smuggled the one-week old tiger babies from Slovakia to a flat in in Hainburg an der Donau a town in the Bruck an der Leitha district, in Lower Austria. The police were tipped off via animal rescuers who had received information about the tigers.

Pictures Credit: CEN/ Österreichische Tierschutzverein

The tigers were rescued and taken to Schoenbrunn Zoo in the Austrian capital of Vienna, but died a short while later.

The charges of animal cruelty were dropped before the court case after it was found the animals were cared for appropriately, but she was fined for the illegal smuggling of the tigers.

During the case the prosecutor said: “The trial here only surrounds the transportation of the animals and whether the correct documents were acquired or not.”

Pictures Credit: CEN/ Österreichische Tierschutzverein

Her defence lawyer Wolfgang Blaschitz said in court argued the documents were not required saying: “If an animal is transported with the purpose of emergency veterinary treatment, the documents are not necessary. This is the case we have here.”

The woman accepted the settlement and agreed to pay it within 14 days.

The case which only lasted a few minutes has been closed.

The cross-border transport of tigers is regulated by tough EU laws.

The Slovak woman, identified only as 34-year-old animal carer Yagmut S. said she had acted as she did because it was an emergency.

She said the two tiger cubs had been taken ill at the zoo where she helped out on the outskirts of the Slovak capital because their mother had rejected them.

When the situation worsened she had not wanted to leave them alone overnight.

She also said she believed that there might be better access to animal care in Austria.

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