A security source said that four people have been arrested for torturing and killing a dog in the al-Matareya area, northeastern Cairo.
A video clip went viral across Facebook showing four people torturing a dog by cutting it with knives, leaving severe gashes across the body. The incident incited outrage, especially among animal rights activists.
The perpetrators claimed the dog had attacked a goat belonging to one of them. Police have started legal procedures against them.
Cruelty towards stray animals is not uncommon in Egypt.
In 2015, two men were arrested after appearing in a violent video circulated on social media, where they can be seen torturing and stabbing a dog on Al-Ahram Street in Shobra al-Kheima, after tying it to a lamp post.
The mass poisoning of cats at the upscale al-Gezira Club in Zamalek in August 2014 had also provoked the anger of social media users. Many animal rights organizations had filed complaints against the club’s management over the incident.
Individual efforts are the basis of animal rescue incidents in Egypt, where environment laws are mostly not implemented, animal rights are viewed as a luxury and complaints of animal abuse are usually ignored or ridiculed by the police.
Stray cats and dogs are poisoned and shot as means of limiting their population, while animals at the zoo and pet shops are sometimes kept under inhumane conditions. The lack of animal care and environmental awareness campaigns adds to the problem of animal abuse in Egypt.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
