Two men arrested for animal cruelty charges after they were found transporting 16 head of cattle in a lorry were yesterday fined Rs. 20,000 by the Kahatagasdigiliya Circuit Courts.
Galenbindunuwewa Police officers arrested the suspects S.H.B.M Mashaf (39) and S.A.Jabbar (50), who were transporting the animals in a lorry that could hardly hold them.
Galenbindunuwewa Police OIC Chief Inspector Sujeewa Kumara said the animals could hardly breathe and they were apparently starving at the time police searched the lorry.
“The cows were being taken to be slaughtered for meat and the two suspects had licences for the purpose,” he said.
“The two men were arrested under animal cruelty law for starving the animals and transporting them in a lorry that could hardly hold them,” he said.