TikTok video leads police to two minors suspected of abusing puppies

On Sunday the Aruar Police Station received a complaint of animal abuse together with a TikTok video showing two individuals torturing young puppies.

JANUARY 18, 2021 19:40

A police officer recovers a puppy that was abused by residents of Kuseifa in southern Israel, Monday, January 18, 2020. (photo credit: POLICE SPOKESPERSON'S UNIT) — A police officer recovers a puppy that was abused by residents of Kuseifa in southern Israel, Monday, January 18, 2020.

(photo credit: POLICE SPOKESPERSON'S UNIT)

Two minors from the village of Kuseifa in southern Israel were arrested on Monday after allegedly abusing puppies, police reported.

On Sunday the Aruar Police Station received a complaint of animal abuse together with a TikTok video showing two individuals torturing young puppies by cutting their ears.

המשטרה עצרה שני נערים בני 17 ו-14 מהמועצה המקומית כסייפה בדרום, בחשד להתעללות בגורי כלבים. לפי החשד, השניים חתכו את אוזניהם של הגורים ואת פרוותם. הכלבים הועברו לעמותת תנו לחיות לחיות@Itsik_zuarets (צילום: דוברות המשטרה) pic.twitter.com/VBD7CSmP3r
— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) January 18, 2021

The Aruar Police Station opened an investigation with the assistance of the Southern District's TikTok Unit, which helped identify the suspects in the video.

The suspects were apprehended shortly after, following a joint operation carried out by detectives from the Aruar Police Station and Border Police combat soldiers. They were located together with the abused puppies that were kept in a Sheep's pen while injured and scared, the police report noted.

The location near Kuseifa where the abused puppies were found, January 18, 2020. (POLICE SPOKESPERSON'S UNIT)

When asked by detectives why they did what they did, the 14 and 17-year-olds replied by saying that it makes the dogs stronger. The puppies were safely taken to the Let The Animals Lives non-profit organization.

The suspects were arrested and taken in for questioning.

The Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) in Israel told The Jerusalem Post that it "is shocked but not surprised by this kind of cruelty. Unfortunately, the condition of abandoned animals in the Negev and in secluded peripheries such as Kuseifa, Arad, Dimona, Yeruham and Beersheba, is very bad," adding that "there are no plans for providing humane education in those areas and no routine supervision by the Agriculture Ministry and the veterinarian services," noting that "the negligence has been going on for years."

The situation reflects both the poor understanding of animal abuse laws in the area, as well as an apparent lack of willingness on the part of law enforcement to punish those responsible.

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Arik Zarchi, a volunteer from the Arad Lachi organization, told the Post a story outlining just how bad the situation is.

"Two years ago, I caught a Bedouin boy cutting off a puppy's ears with a piece of glass," he said, adding that the boy claimed he was unaware it was illegal. Around three months later, he received word that the case was dropped due to a "lack of public interest."

The SPCA added that it has rescued over 100 dogs and puppies from this area in the past year.

Israel Police recovers a puppy that was abused by residents of Kuseifa in southern Israel, Monday, January 18, 2020. (POLICE SPOKESPERSON'S UNIT)

It was only two weeks ago that The Jerusalem Post reported that the corpses of dozens of dogs, goats and sheep were discovered in a small garbage-filled area adjacent to the village of Kuseifa near Arad.

"These cases are not isolated, and unfortunately the atrocities are frequent everywhere in the Negev where stray dogs are found," SPCA Israel spokesman Gadi Wittner said in a statement at the time.

In June, the Post reported on a landfill near Arad where hundreds of stray dogs are living among the garbage, fighting over scraps of food and living in unhealthy conditions.

"All over the Negev – Dimona, Arad, Sderot, Yeruham, Beersheba – thousands of dogs, maybe even more than 10,000 [are living abandoned and in poor conditions]," Wittner told the Post. "The Environmental Protection Ministry, Agriculture Ministry – everybody knows, and they don't do anything about it."