Watchman Joseph Galea will serve nine months for dumping his pet dog in a skip. Photo: Darrin Zammit Lupi

A father of six yesterday had a nine-month jail term for animal cruelty confirmed on appeal while a €20,000 fine was cut to €4,000 because he could not afford it.

The government-employed watchman, Joseph Galea, 58, from Vittoriosa, carried his four-year-old boxer, Kimba, for an hour before dumping it in a skip where it remained for 12 hours before being spotted by a jogger.

The dog, renamed Gaia after its rescue, had been put in a black garbage bag because, according to Mr Galea, it looked almost dead after suffering a sandfly strike.

The appeals court commented that, unfortunately, Malta had a dismal record on animal rights.

Quoting Mahatma Gandhi, who had said that “the greatness of a nation could be judged by the way its animals are treated”, the judge highlighted cases of animal cruelty that shocked the country.

He mentioned crucified cats and dogs, carriage horses left in the sun for long hours so their owners could earn a pittance, dogs tied up and exposed to the natural elements, organised dog fighting and hunting for entertainment.

The judge noted in his judgment that the fine was reduced because Mr Galea could not afford the original and if that were converted to jail time, the duration he would have spent behind bars would exceed the maximum allowed by law.

Noting that “life was sacrosanct for everyone and not just humans”, the court said that while humans were more important than animals “it did not mean that animal’s lives could be sacrificed on the altar of human pleasure”.

The judge said he did not want to be misunderstood that animals should never be killed but it had to be within reason for the survival and health of humans and done in a controlled manner.

Thankfully, in Malta the people had an adequate supply of food and, therefore, there was no need to kill wild animals for sustenance.

Those who did kill animals, did so for their own emotional satisfaction or the “thrill” at the moment the animal was killed, the judge said.

This sort of emotional satisfaction belonged to the troglodyte era, he added.

Arguing that hunting had become a tradition or hobby after many years of it being practised did not make sense.

If something was morally wrong it should stop immediately, the judge argued.

It would help, the judge concluded, to keep in the mind a passage from the Bible, which states: “Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All things indeed are pure but it is evil for the man who eats with offence” (Romans 14:20).