Gang of children – some as young as TEN – caught slowly roasting puppies over bonfire

According to the story, the adorable puppies in the photo above were almost burned alive by a gang of children as young as 10 to 12 years old.

Here’s the news story:

———————————————

Gang of children – some as young as TEN – caught slowly roasting puppies over bonfire

Shocked and huddled together for safety, these puppies are lucky to be alive after being saved from an act of almost unbelievable barbarity.

A gang of youths had seized the seven-week-old brother and sister and were slowly roasting them over a bonfire on a canal bank.

Yelping in panic and distress as their fur began to burn, the pair struggled desperately to escape the children’s clutches.

The commotion attracted a walker who ran over to the bonfire and ordered the gang to release them immediately.

Melanie Johnson, 32, said: ‘I just could not believe the cruelty being shown by these kids. If I hadn’t turned up, I think they would have burned the dogs alive.’

Miss Johnson, from Rochdale, added: ‘Most of the kids were aged 12, 13 or older. But some were as young as ten. I was ripping mad and still am to think that anyone – least of all children – could do this.’

She took the two puppies from the bank and carried them to the safety of her home before wrapping them in a towel and taking them to an RSPCA shelter.

The cross-bred pups were examined by a vet after the incident in Newbold, Rochdale on Friday and were found to be in generally good health.

Jean Spencer, the RSPCA shelter manager, said: ‘The puppies are only seven weeks old and still smelled of smoke from the bonfire when they arrived.

‘The fur on one of them was singed and the other has a small hernia. Fortunately, they are going to be fine.’

She added: ‘To think that children could be so cruel is really disgusting. The puppies are absolutely gorgeous. Everyone here has fallen in love with them.’

The male puppy has been named Guy and his sister Cinders.

They will now go to a shelter in Halifax to be re-homed.

No arrests have been made in connection with the incident.

Gang of children – some as young as TEN – caught slowly roasting puppies over bonfire
by Jaya Narain, Mail Online
Last updated at 8:42 PM on 04th February 2009

———————————————

It’s really disturbing to think that people can hurt such gentle creatures, but what’s even more disturbing is the fact that children actually tried to roast them alive. I’ve heard so many times (both in TV and books) that children with keenness to hurting animals almost always end up becoming very abusive when they grow up. Even worse, some become murderers or serial killers as adults. It’s been found out that children with a pathological need to hurt animals are showing symptoms of being sociopaths. You can just imagine how disturbed these children are for even considering slowly roasting puppies over bonfire.

“No arrests have been made.” Well… Ok… Fine. But I do hope the parents or guardians of these children realize that their kids NEED psychological help.

My family has been quite busy moving things to our new home (we’re sleeping there soon! Yay!), so unfortunately, I wasn’t able to blog this sooner. I just hope it’s not too late.

A few days ago, I received an email in the mailing list from Nice Rodriguez telling us about Rene Jose’s show which talked about CARA’s catch/spay/release program for cats and dogs.

I am just wondering if someone else watched UNTV’s Good Morning Kuya show this morning. One of the hosts Rene Jose was reacting to CARA’s catch/spay/release program, saying it’s not right to catch the strays, neuter them (kapon) and release them back in the streets. And when he asked around for the other minor hosts/guests to give their opinions, nobody opposed him. There were no advantages offered about spaying and neutering of stray cats and dogs.

I’ve been watching the program for the last few months because I find their political commentaries refreshing, enlightening and funny. I am just bothered because first of all, nobody in the show seemed to be interested in the topic. They didn’t really care about all the cats and dogs out in the streets, with only one commentator worrying more that he might drive over a stray at night and thus, endanger his own life. Mr. Jose seemed to be more concerned about emasculating the tomcats since the sterilization process appeared unthinkable for him–almost like it’s cutting his own balls!

I know the show is sexist at times but it’s still the best show to eavesdrop about the country’s affairs. I am only sad because we seem to be very far from being a compassionate society. I find Mr. Jose almost encyclopedic with his knowledge and commentaries on several topics in the show, and to learn that he vehemently opposes neutering and spaying of stray animals (like it’s a sin against the Pope) is worrisome, and there could be many like-minded folks like him out there. Sadly, he didn’t even bother suggesting an alternative to the stray population problem.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to watch the show. Heck, I don’t watch Rene Jose’s show at all, to tell you the truth. Political debates and talks usually annoy me. But, like any other form of media, it is nevertheless effective.

The problem I have with the commentary regarding the spaying and neutering of animals is not the commentary per se. Everyone’s entitled to their own opinion. You don’t think it’s good for the animal population, fine. But the thing is, being able to say that on TV is a different thing—you get the “power” to convince other people.

That is why journalists have the responsibility to deliver accurate information.

It is true that the humanity of spaying and neutering remains debatable. But not to also present its advantages is quite one-sided, and uninformed.

The damage is done. Maybe there are a number of people who believed what was discussed on the show. Maybe not. But no use complaining. We might not have the advantage of television reach, but we do have one medium readily within our reach: the internet.

I think some of you would know that I am a blogging advocate. Dog-lover, but also a blogging advocate Blogging has already helped a lot of advocacies on the Internet—the Blog and Soul Movement, Filipina Images, and Bloggers’ Kapihan just to name a few. These groups try their best to actually bring about their advocacies through action. A person can complain all he/she wants, but I honestly feel that action is much more effective.

I strongly suggest that dog-lovers informed about spaying and neutering help spread information through their blogs.

Allow me to start. Here’s my take

As soon as we get settled down on our new home, I’d have Harry and Choknat neutered. We don’t breed dogs, but we already have a lot of them. And honestly, my dad and I get headaches every time mating season nears. The dogs just go crazy. We needed to isolate the female dog in heat. But if they’re successful, we get another problem of what to do with the puppies

This is Moy-moy. He’s just about to get neutered in this photo. More details on his parents’ blog at The Animal Doctor

Neutering would definitely be an advantage in our pets’ case. But I think my opinion also applies to CARA’s catch/spay/release program as well.

There will always be the risks of surgical complications and other possible physiological disadvantages, but I believe that spaying and neutering stray animals are actually quite a humane way of controlling the animal population. It’s definitely cheaper than catching the animals, rehabilitating them, and putting them up for adoption (unless of course we have a hell lot more organizations like PAWS around), and by far more humane than euthanasia.

I don’t know… But I just don’t like euthanasia that much. Before Sheero passed away, I was willing to do anything just to avoid having her put down at all costs. What more a dog or cat who wasn’t even sick? I would rather have the street animals devoid of a sex life than putting them down.

What about you? What do you think?

And I thought I’ve seen the worst of animal cruelty seeing a dog run over by a car on the street. This is unbelievable. Does he derive pleasure seeing the dog tortured like that? It’s cruel, absolutely cruel.

Help sign the petition boycotting this cruel artist.

Art is supposed to be beautiful. And I don’t see anything beautiful in such cruelty AT ALL.

More details here.

We sometimes come across a stray dog or a pet dog let loose every now and then, but it was only last week when we almost stumbled upon a dog carcass.

The poor dog even had a collar, and lay dead near the road’s island. Apparently, some driver ran over the dog when it was crossing the street. I only hoped that the owner of the dog didn’t see him that way.

You see, the road where we saw it doesn’t allow a car to run very fast—it’s kind of narrow. Either the person driving was drunk, or was just heartless enough to find pleasure in running over the dog. I’m hoping it was the latter. In other countries, a person who accidentally runs over a dog will probably report it to the police or something. But here, the dog was just left near the island to rot.

You might think I’m overreacting, but that’s not what I’m used to. My dad and Marc (my husband) make sure they don’t run over dogs that aren’t watching where they’re going when crossing the street. They try as much as possible to avoid them, like they would a stupid pedestrian crossing the street even if the traffic signal is green. Maybe that’s why I was so shocked to see the poor dog dead along the road.

I may be biased (being a dog-lover), but sometimes other people had more respect for animals than they do now. The cruelty is simply saddening.