This true story occurred in 1386 in Falaise, Normandy, France. A sow was sentenced to be ‘mangled and maimed in the head and forlegs, and then to be hanged, for having torn the face and arms of a child and thus caused its death…As if to make the travesty of justice complete, the sow was dressed in man’s clothes and executed on the public square near the city hall at the expense to the state of ten sous and ten deniers, besides a pair of gloves to the hangman.’
(from E.P. Evans: The Criminal Prosecution and Capital Punishment of Animals).
