Animal rights activist praises police for ‘swift response’

ANIMAL welfare activist and president of the TT Society for the Prevention of Cruelty Against Animals (TTSPCA), Sita Kuruvilla has commended the police for its “swift response” to a recent animal cruelty report. On Saturday, a video of three men in Embacadere, San Fernando, killing a dog went viral. One of the men was smiling seen smiling while strangling the animal with cable wire.

This sparked outrage online, with many users sharing photos of the men and calling on the police to investigate.

Approximately two hours later, the men were held by police following an investigation led by Snr Supt Wayne Mohammed, who was alerted about the crime by Police Commissioner Gary Griffith.

The men arrested are aged 20, 24 and 32, and the dog belonged to one of them.

Speaking with Newsday on Sunday morning, Kuruvilla said she was horrified when she saw the video.

“I guess what was horrifying is not just what’s happening but the reaction of the people that were doing it, because they thought it was amusing to see this animal suffering, but we are very grateful for the response from the police because they went right away to apprehend those who were involved.”

Asked about the public’s response to the incident, she said it showed that more people are understanding the need for animal rights. But she said the current legislation is “outdated” and added that it creates difficulty for police and animal welfare associations to effectively respond.

Kuruvilla said, “The legislation is very old and general. The process for making any charges – well it all depends on the police’s input, and the fines are very small. So it has been a problem for many years.”

But she noted there has been significant improvement this year as the Ministry of Agriculture began piloting an Animal Health and Welfare Act. She said the ministry created a “multi-sectoral team” including representatives from a number of animal welfare groups to work together on formulating guidelines.

She said this was completed at the end of 2019 and that it will go to Cabinet soon.

“It deals with a range of animals like dogs, cats and also livestock and farm animals, domesticated wildlife and so on.

“We are really hopeful this legislation will more clearly set the guideline on how animals should be cared for and also make the jobs of law enforcement easier.”