Last week we wrote how, on the same day that Parliament approved harsher penalties for people convicted of animal cruelty, two kittens were chopped up and dumped on a street in Paola.

We wrote, in that editorial, how the authorities must step up their game and put their money where their mouth is – that laws alone are not enough if there is no enforcement.

It is also useless to increase fines and prison terms for people who abuse animals if the courts opt for the bare minimum when deciding on punishment, rather than send out a clear message that such crimes will not be tolerated.

This newsroom reported on Sunday how one of two men involved in a horrific case of animal cruelty two years ago got away with just a slap on the wrist. The man, who admitted his part in the 2017 Bezbizija case, where officials had rescued over a hundred animals that were mistreated and malnourished from an illegally occupied farm, was given a suspended sentence and no fine.

The magistrate who meted out the sentence felt that, in this case, the best way forward was to give the man a suspended sentence so that he would have time to reflect on the consequences he would face should he repeat the offense.

This undoubtedly enraged animal rights activists and people involved in the investigation, who told this newspaper that a much harsher penalty should have been handed down. Such light punishments do nothing to deter others from doing the same.

We believe that the courts need to send out a stronger message, especially in view of the fact that many people in this country still harbour the mentality that animals are simply there to be used and abused, often as a way of making money.

One such example is the judicial protest filed by karozzini owners late last week. The government recently introduced new rules to regulate the highly controversial profession. The new rules came about after several shocking cases where carriage horses died on the roads after being made to pull heavy loads (of tourists) under the blistering sun. The new rules say that horses cannot be made to work on two consecutive days, and that trips cannot be longer than 45 minutes. It also banned the use of karozzini horses between 1pm and 4pm in July and August.

The regulations were welcomed by the public in general, as it was felt that these were long overdue. But the karozzini owners have gone to court, claiming that these regulations are “irregular and illegal.” Despite all the arguments that they might make, the fact remains that these people bring profits before the welfare of their own animals.

There is clearly a big need for a change in mentality, and this is precisely why laws need to be updated and enforced, and why the courts need to give more deserving sentences whenever these laws are broken.

On Saturday, we also reported how the investigation on the Paola kittens has been dropped because the police found “zero” leads. We fail to understand how, in the age of CCTV, the police can fail to find a single trace that can lead to an arrest.

We truly hope that the investigators involved did their utmost, just like they are expected to do with every case that lands on their lap, and that the case was not brushed off just because the victims were animals.