Swiss pensioner faces trial for feeding stranger's cat

Although the world media picked up on the news that a Swiss pensioner was brought to court for feeding someone else's cat, in reality, as they say, the devil is in the details.

As reported by swissinfo.ch., the Zurich prosecutor is indeed demanding a suspended fine of 3,600 Swiss francs for the pensioner, and the case has been referred to court because the defendant refused to accept the original fine. (The elderly woman also faces an additional fine of 800 Swiss francs.)

But the thing is, the publication explains, that in Switzerland it is not a punishable offense to feed someone else's cat only occasionally. However, systematically feeding and providing a home for someone else's cat is considered illegal appropriation, since according to Swiss law cats are the property of their owners.

And this is exactly such a case. Witnesses say the pensioner repeatedly fed the cat Leo, who lived in the same building, over a period of ten months and allowed him into her apartment. She did this even after the cat's owner wrote to her to forbid her from doing so. Moreover, the woman also made her own cat flap so that Leo could enter and exit her home at any time. As a result, Leo was never returned to his rightful owner.

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