CHENNAI: A localised version of a 'snuff' or torture video of a man dangling a puppy from the top of a terrace and then flinging it over - sent shock waves through animal activists on Monday. Although only 35 seconds long, the video shot in slow motion with a smiling man holding the puppy by the scruff of its neck and loud yelping as the dog plummets to its death has received hundreds of outraged comments demanding justice.
Antony Rubin, an activist who went to file the police shortly after the video began circulating at 4pm said, "We got special permission to meet with the Commissioner of Police himself, T K Rajendran. He has taken up the case very seriously and forwarded it to K Shankar, Additional Commissioner (South)."
Although it was initially only a broad guess that the video was shot in Chennai, later police is said to have identified a couple of suspects in Chennai.
This came after fellow activist put out the word on Facebook, asking any one who recognised the man in the video to come forward with
information. Further incentive came from the Humane Society International/India which upon seeing the video offered a reward of Rs 1 lakh for anyone who came forward to identify the dog killer and lead to his arrest.
Shared initially via WhatsApp around 4 pm and then posted later on Facebook, the video went viral and had close to a thousand shares in a matter of minutes.