After being found guilty of killing more than 100 Patagonian penguin chicks, an Argentine farmer was given a three-year prison sentence for animal cruelty.
Wednesday was the sentencing date, and it is likely that the sentence will be commuted. The farmer was found guilty of destroying dozens of penguin nests in the southern province of Chubut in 2021 while clearing ground close to the Punta Tumbo environmental reserve.
One of the biggest colonies of Magellanic penguins on the Atlantic coast can be found in this reserve.
The farmer, a sheep rancher, claimed that the state’s inability to build appropriate access roads to his property and draw borders between his farm and the surrounding area compelled him to clear the land.
