The Oulu district court convicted three of animal welfare crimes at the Suurpetokeskus in Kuusamo.
The District Court of Oulu has issued a decision in the case regarding the alleged animal protection crimes of Kuusamo Suurpetokesku.
The court sentenced the founder of the big predator center Sulo of Karjalainen for an animal protection offense to a three-month suspended sentence. According to the verdict, the crimes took place between 2019 and 2022.
In addition to Karjalainen, two other men who took part in the care of animals at the large animal center were sentenced to daily fines for the animal welfare crime that occurred in 2022.
The prosecutor demanded that Sulo Karjalainen and two others be punished for a gross animal protection crime. However, according to the court, it was a basic animal protection crime.
The prosecutor also demanded that Karjalainen be banned from keeping animals. The district court rejected the demand, among other things, because Karjalainen is no longer responsible for the practical operation of the large-animal center.
Criminal suspicions swirled about the avi’s attention
According to the indictment processed in court, the trio committed negligence, among other things, in relation to the shelter’s animals’ nutrition, health care and holding places.
The criminal suspicions date back to 2022, when the Regional Administrative Agency of Northern Finland made a request to the police to investigate the center’s animal husbandry. In 2017, 2018 and 2020, the center had received orders to improve its operations.
According to the prosecutor, during inspection visits by the authorities, attention was repeatedly paid to, for example, the animals’ diet, which caused the animals dental problems.
The charge is also related to the kind of enclosures and facilities the animals were kept in and how they were cared for. According to the prosecutor, deficiencies and damages were found in the bears’ enclosures during inspection visits, which caused the animals a risk of injury.
In addition, the bears were kept in such a way that there was a risk of their inbreeding, even though the animals were closely related to each other.
One wolf was kept outside the animal park in Sulo Karjalainen’s yard in an unlocked and too low enclosure.
In addition, according to the prosecutor, during the winter of 2021-2022, the small bear cub Aina was kept in a small cage in a storage boiler room, which caused the animal stress and boredom.
According to the prosecutor, the care of the animals was neglected, for example in such a way that no help was sought for the injuries and problems of the poor animals. Among other things, a bear that suffered from epileptic seizures for 30 years was left without treatment.
All three men denied having committed crimes in the case. According to them, no crimes took place.
According to the defense, claims about, for example, the inappropriateness of venues or animal food are baseless.
According to the defense, the fulfillment of a gross animal protection crime would also require that the animals had been left without necessary care on purpose or due to gross negligence and had been treated cruelly and causing unnecessary suffering, pain and suffering.
According to the defense, that did not happen at all.
The news is updated.
