Activists have in recent years successfully campaigned to stop mass cullings of street dogs in Dhaka and other cities (AFP Photo/MUNIR UZ ZAMAN) |
A Bangladeshi security guard was handed a jail sentence on Thursday for burying alive two dogs and their 14 puppies, in what activists hailed as the country's first ever animal cruelty conviction.
Mohammad
Siddique, who buried the dogs in polythene sacks, "was sentenced to six
months in jail and fined 200 taka ($2.50)," prosecutor Forkan Mia told AFP
after the trial in Dhaka.
Animal
rights campaigners, who have long lobbied for replacing the South Asian
country's colonial-era laws on animal maltreatment, said they hoped the
sentence would act as a deterrent.
"The
fact that this case was heard by the magistrate is a major achievement,"
said Rakibul Haq Emil from animal rights group the PAW Foundation, who brought
the case.
"I am
sure it will send a warning message that it won't be easy to get away with
cruel treatment to animals in Bangladesh," he said.
The bodies
of the dogs were discovered in October in a Dhaka neighbourhood. But despite
outrage from campaigners, police were initially reluctant to take up the case.
Cruelty
towards animals is commonplace in Bangladesh but activists have in recent years
successfully campaigned to stop mass cullings of street dogs in the capital and
other major cities.
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