Monday, January 31, 2011

A Punching Bag with Four Legs

A punching bag doesn’t usually have legs but this one had four and its owner caused a clamour  on Facebook. It all started when this 15-minute video was posted on You Tube by a girl in KL. She claimed to have found the pen-drive containing the video somewhere in the city. I checked to make sure that the clip was really what it said it was—a case of dog-bashing—before I shared it with my Facebook friends.

Yes, the punching bag was a little dog. The bashing it received was so horrific I could watch only the first two minutes.

This little poodle was being trained to stand on his hind legs while holding the fore-legs folded across his chest. And every time he made a ‘mistake’ like falling on all four legs, a muscular arm was quick to send him flying across the table. This was done repeatedly in the two minutes I watched. I had no stomach to view the rest of the recording and I could only guess at what took place.


What struck me most was the dog’s response to all this abuse. It was like a terrified child who was too scared to do anything but what he was told to do. Did he growl? Bark? Bite? No! Not a yelp, not a whimper, escaped his mouth.


Poor, helpless, little poodle, I thought. How could people do this to such an adorable and obviously mild-mannered dog?  I wondered what the poodle was thinking. I wondered if he understood what was happening.


Soon the video was all over the internet. The SPCA Singapore was looking for the abuser. Pictures of him were posted on Facebook and the dog-bashing was even mentioned in the local Chinese news. So, unless he re-designs his facial features—like that Japanese guy who killed his English teacher—this abuser will be recognized everywhere he goes. We all hope he gets what he deserves.

Apparently, the poodle has already died. I feel so sorry for it but better he died and went romping in dog-heaven than live to serve as someone’s punching bag in hell-on-earth. I know you don’t have to be a dog-lover to agree with me. You just have to be a normal human being who wants to see less violence inflicted on the innocents around us—animals included.

8 comments:

  1. I can't even watch the video at all. I hope this man does not have any children at all - in this life and whatever future lives he may have, that this demonic gene ends with him.

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  2. I read and heard about it too, but I can't find in my heart any courage to watch the video. Poor poodle. *sob*

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  3. even more sad to knw that even if anyone is caught abusing animals the fine will only be RM200! *sigh*

    My one thought regarding this case:

    1 - why is that SPCA Singapore the ones who do all the investigating thingy? Where is our local SPCA?

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  4. That's exactly what one of my friends said, Jewelle: that this guy does not have any kid. If he could be so violent towards a helpless pet, imagine what he could do to a crying baby.

    Gunaqz, the video wasn't for the faint-hearted. It made a friend cry.

    It's a shame that the fine is only RM200, Angel. People found guilty of animal abuse should be made to do community service... like cleaning animal cages at the vet's for a specific period... and undergo counseling.

    Hopefully, the reason for SPCA Malaysia's slowness was because it was busy and NOT because the victim was a dog.

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  5. So horrid. I'm not watching the video :(

    Pity the poor dog.

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  6. Hi Tina:

    This story reminds me of a scene I saw once @ Inanam. There was this little girl, maybe about 2 1/2 years old. She was with, I guess, her family walking along the pavement when she could stand anymore but pee. She realised that she was peeing in her pants, squatted, and I saw absoutue terror in her face as she was crying. There was sheer desperation written on her face as she tried to stem her incontrolable pee by pressing against her now-sodden panties.

    Sure enough! The father turned around, looked at her with a mien that's darker than the original sin, and with a few quick strides, reached her, yanked her high up by her right arm (pee still dripping down), torrents of angry words spewing from his mouth.

    If the sheer terror written all over the little girl face is anything to go by, I have no doubt that this was one of a long series of daddy "discipline".

    When I reached home I hugged my little daughter.

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  7. There’d be fewer screwed-up people if parents treat their kids like they treat their friends, or even their friends’ kids. One doesn’t (usually) smack a friend’s kid-- or yank him up by the arm-- even if he has made a mess on the living room floor but for some it’s OK to beat the life out of his own kid when he does the same.

    What I find incredible is that ‘horrible’ parents expect the grown kids (the same persons they had abused) to care for them in their old age and are amazed when they aren’t ‘loved’! For some parents kids are just an insurance against old age or disabilities and until they come to the needy stage, they’ll do what they please.

    Rayner, I can imagine the terror of the little girl in your story and what she probably has to suffer all her young life.

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