No Cruelty Charges for Girl Throwing Puppies into River

In late August, a video went up on YouTube showing a young teenager wearing a red hooded sweatshirt throwing six live newborn puppies into a fast moving river. As if the act itself weren't horrifying enough, the fact that someone filmed her doing it — capturing the puppies' whimpers and the girl's lighthearted "Wheeee" as she flung one of the helpless animals toward its drowning death — is downright chilling.

The story captivated the world. Who was this girl? And what kind of budding sociopath does it take to do something so callous?

Several organizations stepped forward to offer rewards for information leading to the girl's arrest. Producer Michael Bay threw $50,000 into the ring to find her. But it was members of the online community 4chan who tracked her down to the village of Bugojna, Bosnia.

It was just reported that Bosnian police have finished their investigation and don't plan to press cruelty charges.

I assume her brother, who was behind the camera, is also off the hook.  These kids are in desperate need of intense therapy and a dose of supervised community service. And what about their parents? Velimir Ivanisevic, head of the Sarajevo-based animal group SOS, commented, "It is a mirror of society, and the fact that young people are doing such things shows how they have been raised." But police say she's too young to be prosecuted and no one will be charged.

The local police also seem to be falling back on the bizarre story of a 75-year-old woman who claims to have rescued the puppies. She appeared in the news a few days after the video went viral with an armful of puppies, claiming that the newborns had somehow bobbed along the rushing water until she was able to heroically fish them out. She shows up with puppies who are older and darker than the ones in the video, saying that they're no worse for the wear, but she could sure use some money to keep them fed. Apparently the police bought into the story. I guess it's a convenient way to absolve themselves and the girl.

Bosnia isn't known for its animal cruelty laws. People found guilty of animal abuse can face fines of up to $6,400 ... or as little as $19. But the fact is that most cases of animal abuse go unreported in the country.

The only reason this girl's sadism rose to fame was because of YouTube. It's one of the impacts of social media, and we see animal abuse cropping up all the time on Facebook, too. Most of these sites have guidelines for helping police when crimes against humans come to their attention, so why did it take the members of 4chan to help police find someone who killed animals?

The correlation between animal abuse and other violent crimes is well documented; companies like YouTube need to treat crimes involving animals as seriously as they treat any other violent crime that appears on their site. Tell YouTube to review their policies on reporting evidence of animal abuse and take a stand to protect innocent people and animals.

Image credit: YouTube