The killing of a 9-year-old labrador named Bruno has caused online outrage in India. The dog was beaten to death and hung by a fishhook by three men in Trivandrum, Kerala. With the hashtag #JusticeforBruno, people in India and abroad demand justice for the murder of the labrador.
Two of the three offenders were arrested and have been released on bail. “Third accused is a minor and hence has not been arrested,” Meet Ashar, a lawyer and animal rights activist in India, said in a social media post.
Cases of animal abuse and torture are increasing across the country, Ashar said. Videos of humans abusing and killing animals appear almost weekly in India.
On June 11th, Ashar shared the case of a man who had beaten a dog to death with stick a dog while he was sleeping in Amritsar.
On June 6th, he shared the case of a man who ran over and killed a pregnant cow with a tractor in Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh.
Those are a few of the recent cases caught on video in India; the number of animals tortured and killed that are not caught on camera is much higher.
The government urgently needs to change the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act (PCA) to prevent more animal abuse crimes, Ashar said.
The Act makes it a crime to beat, kick, torture, mutilate, or cruelly kill an animal, but it has not been changed since 1960. Ashar and other animal rights activists and organisations have been calling on the government to review the Act and establish stronger punishments.
The case of Bruno has gotten the attention of the Kerala Kerala High Court, which is now personally monitoring the case, Ashar said.
They have asked the Director General of Prosecution “to bestow his personal attention in the matter and ensure that the wheels of the criminal justice system are set in motion to bring the perpetrators of the crime to justice.”
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