That a cat leaves the house and walks through the neighbors’ gardens It may seem like something difficult to control, but something seemingly harmless can end up in a conflict between neighbors that lasts over time and ends in court with a conviction. This has been the case of these French neighbors, where a woman has been sentenced to pay 30 euros each time her case sneaks onto the neighbor’s property, after he reported her for the damage and inconvenience caused by the feline.
According to The Connection, The origin of the neighborhood conflict dates back to the year 2022, when the neighbor was doing work in his garden and found footprints of a cat on the fresh cement.
From that moment on, the complaints about the animal did not stop, and the man also claimed that the cat had also relieved itself in the garden and had even urinated on a duvet.
He had to pay 1,250 euros and each new entry of the cat can cost him another 30
Last January, the cat’s owner was sentenced to pay 50 euros in damages and another 800 euros in legal costs, that is, a total of 1,250 euros. But the resolution went further, and the court established that every time the cat re-enters the neighbor’s property it will have to pay a penalty of 20 euros.
The problem is that the accusations did not end there. According to published information, the woman will have to return to court after the neighbor has filed new complaints and now faces another 2,000 euros, in addition to the possibility that the penalty for each entry of the animal increases from 30 to 150 euros.
The owner denies that it can be proven that all the damage was caused by her cat. He explains that in the neighborhood there are several animals that move from one garden to another and that at least two others also have orange fur.
“There is no real proof that it was my cat that caused the problems,” he says.
The neighbor, for his part, has been collecting evidence over the years and now has a file made up of around 70 photographs. According to the woman, she has also installed surveillance cameras to monitor the animal’s movements.
The owner has left the cat locked up at home to avoid new sanctions
Since the conflict began, the owner has decided to keep Rémi inside the house to prevent him from crossing into the neighboring field again and generating new penalties.
However, he assures that this is also affecting the animal, which has become more aggressive since it can no longer go outside. Some neighbors have even offered to build him a large enclosed structure in the garden so he can be outside without leaving the property.
The woman explains that the whole situation has ended up having consequences for her as well. He claims that the conflict has caused him anxiety, weight gain and that he has had to go to therapy.
An owner begins to demolish the roof of his home while the squatter sleeps inside and the Justice forces him to compensate him with 2,300 euros
Meco, an insurance agent who has been living in a tent in the countryside for 14 years: “I pick mushrooms, chestnuts and what the forest offers; I almost never go shopping.”
Despite this, he rules out leaving the house or getting rid of the cat. “He is like a son to me. There is no possibility of abandoning him,” he says.