Canadian man keeps too many cats and is fined and still refuses to give up

54-year-old Quebec man Sylvain Brunette loves cats very much. He raised 6 cats, which was far beyond the local regulations that he could only keep one at a time, so he was fined more than 1,000 yuan. He spent four days in Quebec's largest provincial prison earlier this month for refusing to pay fines. After being released from prison, he vowed to continue raising his six cats.

According to the CBC, five years ago, Brunette moved to the city of Franklin, Quebec, a small town with a population of 1,700, about an hour's drive south of Montreal.

Brewster rented a house there and lived with his six cats, who were 10 years old. All of the cats have undergone sterilization. Brewster said he loved animals since he was a child and those cats were well taken care of.

In Franklin, residents are allowed to keep only one cat at a time. Over the past three years, Brewster has been fined three times for raising too many cats and providing food to stray cats, with a total fine of RMB 1,208.

Brewster never paid a fine. He had no money to pay because he lived on relief funds, and he thought the fine was ridiculous.

Brewster was sentenced to 54 days in prison for not paying the fine. On November 6, three policemen came to his house and sent him to the Bordeaux prison. He spent four days in prison and was locked up with other criminals, and Brewster said those criminals could scare him. Later, the Brewster family raised $1,409 for him to bail him.

Brunette is now home, but he says he won't abandon the cats, who are now 16 years old, and he really likes them too much.

Franklin Mayor Suzanne Yelle Blair said in an interview that she knew nothing about Brunette's case. She said that there have been problems with stray animals in the past, so the city has formulated relevant regulations.