A 49-year-old man who beat his own dog in front of the police, claiming he was simply “educating it” after the latter, which was irregularly at large, attacked another dog, was arrested by the PSP in Alcântara, Lisbon, it was announced this Wednesday.
According to Lisbon PSP, the crime of cruelty to a pet occurred on Sunday afternoon near a commercial establishment. The animal attacked was on a leash and “properly controlled by a caretaker.” When a free dog came across it, it attempted to attack it.
This led to the owner of the escaped dog attacking him, “forcing the dog to bite him.” “He struck the animal several times with his hands and feet, mostly in the head area, even grabbing the dog by the neck, lifting it up and throwing it to the ground,” PSP describes. Only police intervention stopped the attacks, but even before the agents arrived, “the man claimed he could do whatever he wanted because the animal was his property, and stated several times that he was not attacking it, but rather educating it.”
He was immediately arrested and even refused hospitalization for treatment for the bite of his own dog, which was taken to the Casa do Animais de Lisboa.
The man’s trial has been postponed to a date yet to be set, prosecutors said.