The world seems to be full of injustice – Starving millions in third world regions, bank bail outs / property taxes or cases of animal abuse going relatively unpunished.
Obviously some rank higher than others on the injustice scale, but at the end of the day, it’s always the innocent victim that ends up paying most.
One case came to my attention last week, whereby a former British Army Paratrooper kept a Neapolitan Mastiff confined in a cage that was six inches shorter than the actual dog. The dog somehow managed to free itself on the 23rd of December last year and savagely attacked the first human it came in contact with, who died as a result of the injuries sustained.
When the police arrived at the scene, they confiscated a banned pittbull terrier, shot the Neapolitan Mastiff, and when the case went to court last week, the “owner” of the dog was given a community sentence of 150 hours of unpaid work, plus charges of Stg 3340 !
Defending the accused, the court was told that the dog was bought as a family pet, and was the same style of dog that you would see in the film Harry Potter. The prosecutor said the death of the person was a direct result of the dogs incarceration in the cage, but the defence said it might have been a contributing factor, but no one knows what set the dog off.
Now last week we featured Slighedhala Neapolitan Mastiffs as the featured kennel for the month of January on Pedigree dogs.ie, and in the fantastic piece written by Paraic & Agbons Sheridan, they mention “We strongly recommend Neapolitans as a breed but they are not for everyone. They need a firm hand and experience with dogs is recommended. As with any dog they require training and socialisation.”
The above is a clear case of the person not being suitable for this breed as this excuse for a dog owner kept this magnificent giant breed confined in a cage that was six inches shorter than the actual dog, but who suffered in the end ? An innocent person lost their life due to actions resulting from the mistreatment of this dog, and the dog itself that was shot dead after the incident.
Surely the court should have sent out a far stronger message to people that think it’s OK to mistreat dogs and other animals, by not caring for their needs as a breed etc, especially when it escalates to the point that human life is endangered / lost.
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