Judgment against dog traders before the regional court
process in Cologne
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Couple sold terminally ill puppies for big money – lengthy prison sentences
Cologne A couple commercially sold seriously ill puppies from Romania via the Internet, the dogs died within a few days with their new owners. Now a verdict has been found in the Cologne case. Both defendants are in custody.
When the trial began in mid-December last year, the defendant Ileana G. shed tears and blew kisses to her children in the courtroom. The 33-year-old and her co-accused husband have five children together, the eldest son is only 13 years old. So there is a lot at stake – but if the two were still hoping for a suspended sentence, this hope was dashed on Tuesday. The presiding judge of the 16th grand criminal division sentenced Ileana G. and Nikola Z. to three years in prison for joint fraud in 19 cases.
According to the court, Ileana G. and Nikola Z. bought puppies in Romania for the first time in the summer of 2020 in order to sell them profitably on the eBay sales platform in Germany. Up to ten puppies a week should soon be delivered from Romania. The couple kept the dogs in the basement of their home near Aachen. The puppies had been taken from their mothers far too young, they were weak and had worms. In September 2020, the puppies in the basement were infected with the parvovirus, a highly contagious disease that was almost always fatal. Soon all the animals were seriously ill, and some died before they could be sold on.
A separate prosecuted accomplice, who was supposed to take care of the dogs, buried the dead puppies in the field or disposed of them in the household waste. Ileana G. had the surviving dogs of the breeds Beagle, Golden Retriever, Labrador, Maltese and Border Collie given painkillers and antibiotics, which were not for dogs but for children. The judgment speaks of a “large number of puppies” that died miserably in the basement before they were resold.
A friend of the 13-year-old son, Halb Ileana G., at her request to place the sales ads on Ebay. Existing advertisements were used, the images and text of which were simply copied. When the interested parties rang, Ileana G. put a lot of effort into the sales pitch on the phone, which often lasted a whole hour. She guaranteed the health of the dogs and sent videos of the puppies. To do this, she fetched one or two from the basement to film them on the lawn or in the apartment. The couple asked between 900 and 1050 euros per dog – which is far below the usual price.
The accomplice was sent to deliver the puppies to their new owners on the open road. She explained the weakness of the dogs by saying that she had just been out for a walk. Questions about the mother of each puppy were shot down with different tall tales. Sometimes it was said that the bitch was being used as a therapy dog and was “working” with Ileana G. in a facility for the disabled. Once the buyers were told that the bitch has been with Ileana G. with her seriously ill mother. In all cases, the buyer signed a contract of sale and paid in cash. All puppies died. Many in the first few days, but only after a week. The new owners had paid more than 1000 euros in veterinary costs by then. In this case, after a short time, the buyers bought another collie puppy from other sellers, which then also became infected with the parvovirus and had to be put down. The virus can survive on surfaces for up to a year.
The presiding judge calls the high criminal energy of the couple, among other things, to increase the punishment. The two had sold the dogs with forged papers, operated under various aliases and then disappeared when the shocked dog owners wanted their money back. The court estimated the total damage at around 20,000 euros.
Animal rights activists warn again and again against buying young dogs via online portals because the illegal puppy trade is booming and the animals are bred under catastrophic conditions in Eastern Europe. The traders are rarely caught. According to estimates by the State Animal Welfare Officers, up to 50,000 puppies are traded between EU countries every month.