A woman in Brazil cruelly abandoned her disabled dog on the side of the road before hastily driving away. The reprehensible incident was documented by surveillance cameras and swiftly gained widespread attention after being shared on the internet.
The footage reveals the woman arriving in her white car at São Leopoldo in Port Alegre. Bringing her vehicle to a halt, she opens the back passenger door. A black dog emerges, followed by her callously handling a white dog by the scruff of its neck and depositing it onto the pavement beside the car.
Subsequently, she instructed the black dog to re-enter the car and closed the back door. The white dog, hindered by deformed front legs rendering them unusable, attempted to hop on its hind legs in a bid to return to the vehicle. However, callously rebuffing the distressed canine, the woman pushed it away, causing the unfortunate dog to tumble forward onto its face.
The woman drove away, leaving the handicapped dog hopping after her car. Interestingly, she abandoned the dog on the same street where her husband worked. Later, the husband discovered the dog wandering on the street and brought him to the Secretariat of Animal Protection (Sempa).
Tintin, the dog, faced abandonment twice in a single day as his owners left him once again. The man informed the shelter that he had found the dog on the street but conveniently omitted the fact that Tintin actually belonged to him.
After being contacted by the local shelter to identify a dog without front legs named Berlin, Ana Paula Scherer posted a video on her Facebook page. The footage, which has garnered over 13 million views, prompted an outpouring of public outrage with calls for severe punishment for the heartless woman involved.
Secretary Anderson Ribeiro provided reassurance that anyone expressing interest in adopting Tintin would undergo a thorough interview, home inspection, and family history evaluation. Emphasizing that they are not in a hurry to place him in a new home, they are committed to caring for Tintin until the ideal family is found.
“Because of the paw deficiency, he drags his neck a lot on the floor. The adopter’s house should have tiled floors, no cracks or grooves so as not to hurt his neck. We want conscious adoption,” said Ribeiro.
The shelter aims to raise awareness about special needs dogs and has highlighted that they currently have over 60 such dogs patiently awaiting permanent homes.
The legal consequences for animal abuse include a potential jail term ranging from three months to a year, along with fines. It is emphasized that abandoning a pet is not a solution. If individuals find themselves unable to care for their pets, they are encouraged to responsibly surrender them to a local shelter, where efforts can be made to find them a loving and caring home.