The Kaohsiung City Government’s Animal Protection Office issued a reminder about criminal penalties for abuse of animals after a woman surnamed Lai (賴) reported finding four apparently abused puppies in the city’s Ciaotou District (橋頭) on Sunday, with one having died.
Abuse of an animal causing death or a loss of body parts is punishable by one year in prison and a fine of NT$1 million (US$32,205), the office said.
Lai said that she found one puppy, named Siao Hei (小黑), trapped in an upturned bucket weighed down with a brick, while another, Siao Siong (小熊), had its head rammed into a sewer grate, while its body was covered with grass.
Another puppy was unnamed.
The fourth, named Butterfly (蝴蝶), had its head buried under a mound of earth, Lai told police, adding that she suspected someone had held it there until it suffocated.
Lai said she had found the animals after hearing Siao Siong in a distressed state.
Lai took the three surviving puppies to a veterinarian, who diagnosed Siao Hei with internal bleeding that required treatment.
The other two were fine, Lai said on Facebook, adding that the person or people responsible for the dogs’ situation should be ashamed of themselves.
Mistreating animals is a breach of the Animal Protection Act (動物保護法), the office said, adding that it would work with the Kaohsiung Police Department to track down the perpetrator.
In a separate incident, the New Taipei City District Court sentenced a 24-year-old man named Chen Ling-yen (陳令晏) on Tuesday to three months in jail and a fine of NT$150,000 for abuse of a dog.
Chen was found guilty of causing the death of a beagle, which he raised, by throwing it off a fifth-floor balcony on Oct. 23 last year and attempting to kill a beagle puppy on Oct. 24, the ruling said.
The court said the verdict could be appealed.
Chen said he had committed both acts because he was emotionally disturbed, according to a statement made to police.
Chen’s neighbors reported the incidents and Chen told Animal Protection Office officials that his actions were due to his emotional state, the statement said.
“This is the second time; I threw one off and that one died. This one should not survive, either,” officials quoted Chen as saying.
However, the second dog survived and is being trained as a narcotics sniffer dog, the office said.
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