Gianni Attard holding a copy of the Animal Welfare Act.

A Gozitan shepherd who is attempting to prevent the slaughter of his remaining unregistered sheep is suing the government for €520,000 to cover the culling loss he has suffered so far.

He is also demanding that criminal and civil action be taken against eight people involved in the slaughter of his sheep, claiming they had acted in breach of the Animal Welfare Act.

Shepherd Gianni Attard’s legal battle to protect his unregistered flock began in November 2012 when he filed an urgent case to stop the Department of Veterinary Services from slaughtering the animals. By the time it was issued, 216 sheep had already been culled. Tests revealed that none of them was sick.

Mr Attard was under arrest at the Victoria police station while the culling operation was under way. He told the court he had been trying to register them since July 2010.

The court ruled against him, with Magistrate Josette Demicoli holding that the cull was justified to safeguard public health. She said the authorities’ decision was within the parameters of the law because of a presumption that unregistered animals were ill. He is contesting this decision and filed an appeal that is still pending. In the meantime, he launched a parallel legal battle requesting criminal action against a government veterinary surgeon, Frank Galea, whom he claims committed perjury.

Eight people acted in breach of the Animal Welfare Act

In his reply, Dr Galea denied the allegation, saying it was slanderous, criminal and disparaging.

This week, Mr Attard filed another judicial protest in court calling on the authorities to pay him €520,000 – the estimated cost of the culled sheep which were all pregnant.

The judicial protest was filed against the President, the Prime Minister, the Justice Minister, the Police Commissioner, the Parliamentary Secretary for Animal Rights, the Gozo Minister and the Attorney General.

Mr Attard insisted that action ought to be taken against Veterinary Service head Anthony Gruppetta; Dr Galea; Police Inspector Frank Tabone, for arresting him when he knew about the culling operation; Gozo Minister official Joseph Portelli; Animal Welfare director Joseph John Vella; Emanuel Buhagiar and vet Duncan Chetcuti Ganado who culled the sheep; and lawyer Victoria Buttigieg, who represented the authorities during the court case.

Lawyer Joshua Grech signed the protest.

Gozo Minister refuses court notifications

Shepherd Gianni Attard has written to Prime Minister Joseph Muscat complaining that Gozo Minister Anton Refalo was refusing to accept the court notifications about his judicial proceedings.

In a letter sent by his lawyer yesterday morning, which was copied to The Sunday Times of Malta which has followed the case since the very beginning, Dr Grech said Dr Refalo and his ministry officials were refusing to accept the notifications.

He questioned whether this was being done so his client would have to fork out more expenses to inform the minister of the court action.

As he requested a written explanation on why this was happening, Dr Grech also questioned whether this had anything to do with the fact that Dr Refalo was Mr Attard’s lawyer when he filed the urgent injunction to stop the culling in 2012 and had taken four hours to file the writ in court.