Spanish Couple Jailed for Smuggling Rabid Dog from Morocco, Endangering Public Health

In addition to the custodial sentence for a crime of injury due to serious negligence, the couple was ordered to pay 30,000 euros in damages to the people attacked by the rabid dog. The court blames them for having brought the animal into Spain in violation of health requirements. The dog bit its victims, including children in the face, leaving them with sequelae after the surgical interventions they underwent.

The couple had gone to Morocco with three dogs in December 2012. In February 2013, they tried to return to Spain, but were blocked at customs, for lack of veterinary passports, vaccination booklets and anti-rabies serological certificates required for all dogs coming from Morocco. "Rather than complying with the health requirements, the accused preferred to circumvent border controls by entering Spain via Ceuta on April 12, 2013," the judges recall.

The court considers that the fact "that they were allowed to cross the border without serological certificates, either by deception, trickery or negligence, does not exonerate them from their responsibility, since they were fully aware of the risks. The recklessness is not committed by negligent or deceived officials, but by the owner of the animal, knowing that he is not respecting a health regulation of which he has been expressly warned."

For all these reasons, the court concludes that it is in the presence of a case of serious negligence. Because, it recalls, "any dog owner is perfectly aware of the serious risk that the disease of rabies poses to people, the animal itself and other animals."