Activists walk to cops after clip on man hurling dog from terrace goes viral

Animal lovers were aghast when a video featuring an unidentified man savagely throwing a puppy from the top of a building, surfaced on social networking sites on Monday. The video, which garnered 50,000 views within a few hours, caught the attention of animal activists, who filed a police complaint to trace the offender. 

Shravan Krishnan, an animal activist and rescuer, said this was a clear offence. “The offender can be booked under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, for maiming or killing an animal. It is a non-bailable offence. I was aghast when I saw the barbaric act in the video and the puppy was squealing pitifully. The person seemed to belong to Tamil Nadu. I shared it on Facebook and within a few hours, hundreds of animal lovers had circulated this video. We have decided to track this video and make sure the person will be punished,” he said. 

Honorary Animal Welfare Officer Antony Rubin went ahead and filed a police complaint. “We are launching an official complaint and have approached the cybercrime cell to trace the origins of the video. We have a copy of the footage and URL. The police officials promptly registered our complaint. Since this is a sensitive matter, I met the CoP, who directed an Additional Commissioner to look into the case. We also sent this video to C. Sylendra Babu, ADGP, Coastal Security Group, who was equally shocked to see this. We have also brought this to the attention of Union Minister Maneka Gandhi, and animal rights activist. We have high hopes on the Police force and trust they will soon trace this man and ensure he is brought to justice,” he said. 

Finance professional Gowri Shankar R, founder of The Serene Chennai who shared the video, said, “Animal abuse should be treated on par with human abuse.”