On November 15th, 2010, the Lithuanian press published a mind-blowing story. Nineteen dogs and one beaver, were found dead in a ditch by a road in Kaunas, Lithuania. The animals had been skinned, and examinations revealed that some of them had their limbs and sex organs removed. Just a few days after this announcement, stories appeared in the Lithuanian media stating that the animals were not actually dogs, but in fact foxes, beavers and some other animals. The state of decomposition of the bodies may have led to the initial conclusion that they were dogs. Either way, a terrible act of cruelty was inflicted on innocent animals, and that is the crucial point here.
Anyway, just a month before this, in October, similar execution of innocent animals occurred in the city of Kaunas. In this incident seventeen eviscerated animals were found. For some incomprehensible reason this horrible act was not deemed news worthy, and was not published or reported in the media at all; the incident only came to light after the November 15th story was published. Also, in September 2010 Lithuanian police received a report about a dog that had been cruelly tortured, again in Kaunas. Staff at the veterinary clinic where the animal was brought said that the poor dog was close to death, and was missing some of his fur too. Their findings also suggested that this dog's injuries were almost definitely inflicted by one or more people, in what seemed to be an attempt to skin him alive. Thankfully this dog survived, although he is still fighting for his life after the incident.
All in all,the most worrying part of these stories is that the punishment for animal cruelty in Lithuania is very small. It is mostly just a slight fine, and I believe it should be a more severe penalty. Particularly in this case, when some people seem more concerned that this is a littering issue rather than an animal rights one. Will we let those criminals who kill and torture animals for their fur, or those psychopaths who kill for pleasure elude the life sentence they deserve?
Please sign this petition so we can make the Lithuanian government impose harsher punishment for animal cruelty.
