Picture Credit: Times of Malta
Cold-Hearted
Miracle Doggo Shot and Buried Alive
Dogs are wonderful pets to have, they are loyal and loving creatures of this earth. However, they are people who have the ill intentions to hurt and even torture dogs. Animal abuse and domestic abuse are often closely connected. Some people feel the urge to show violence when they are having a stressful time in other parts of their lives. They come home and take it out on people that are smaller than them or pets which are helpless to fight back or escape the painful and tortures situation. Whatever the reason may be that causes stress and disappointment there is still no way to justify harming or causing pain to person and even a pet animal.
The discovery of a dog buried alive up to his nose having been shot 40 times in the head has led to demands for Malta to amend its animal care laws. Animal welfare officers investigating an unrelated case discovered the crossbreed mongrel doggo, called “Star by the animal welfare officers who rescued her near the city of Bizebbuga. The officers were confronted with the distressing sight of a dog’s face buried in the dirt after hearing whimpering sounds coming from under a wooden board with a tree stump placed on top of it to weigh the poor doggo down. The brave doggo while in pain managed to dig, by moving its head, a few inches forward to allow its nose to be exposed just enough for herself to breath. This instinctive move is what thought to have keep the doggo alive until rescuers arrived at the scene.
However, the worse was to follow. When Star was dug out of the ground she was buried in, the welfare rescuers uncovered that all four of her limbs were all tied together and she had been shot continuously with a pellet gun. Remarkably, Star survived after 40 pellet rounds were removed from the poor doggo’s skull by doctors during an emergency surgery at the Ta’Qali hospital. The case has sparked outrage in Malta where, regardless of the nature of the act, the maximum sentence one could face for animal cruelty is a one-year jail sentence or a maximum fine of 46,500 euros.
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Due to this extreme act of animal cruelty, a pending change in legislation will raise the maximum fine to 50,000 Euros but the one-year jail sentence will remain. This is no where near what the people of Malta as well as people all over the globe expect after witnessing such a painful and horrific torture of an adorable harmless doggo. People want stricter animal cruelty laws to be implemented. Animal advocates, animal lovers as well as activist held a protest in Valetta city centre, Malta to express their disgust.
In the aftermath of this cruel act of animal abuse, more than 2,000 people in the small city have signed an online petition to help catch the perpetrator, who is still at large at the moment of writing. People of Malta have also generated donation funds for Star’s vet bills as well as for her recovery in rehabilitation bills.
After a terribly gruesome ordeal, Star now has the choice to choose from over 20 loving and verified potential owners who are interested to adopt her. However according to expert veterinarians, poor Star is too withdrawn in her psychological state of mind to be re-homed at the moment, due to the level of trauma she has been through. Star’s rehabilitation to normalcy, according to veterinarians, would take roughly three weeks to a month at the least.
This incredible story of survival has spread beyond the shores of Malta and has even been featured in newspapers as well as TV programmers across Europe and the United States. This incident shows how cruel some people can be toward animals and also shows how much we must stand up for our adorable four legged doggo friends when they are mistreated as well as when they are abused. Dogs have rights too, its just in many circumstances people abuse of their power over theses lovely creatures without a taught about how they feel. We should always report of any animal cruelty cases immediately, one call can make the difference and stop the suffering for these lovely animals.
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#AnimalCruelty #CageTheCruelty #AnimalSaviourJC
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Written by Joshua. C - 16th of June 2020
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References:
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https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/shot-40-times-in-the-head-tied-131157
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http://theanimal-zone.blogspot.com/2011/05/is-this-worst-case-of-animal-cruelty.html
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