Police Find Girl Who Tossed Puppies Into River
Bosnian police have tracked down a Bosnian girl who sparked a worldwide manhunt and international outrage after she was seen in a web video throwing half a dozen puppies into a river.
The girl, who appeared to be in her teens, lives in the central town of Bugojno, police spokesman Sefir Barucija was quoted by SRNA news agency as saying, but officers did not plan to reveal her identity publicly as she is under 18.
The 44-second video shows a blonde girl in a red sweatshirt casually taking the squealing black-and-white puppies out of a white bucket and tossing them into the fast-moving river one by one.
It is believed the online miscreants of the anonymous messageboard 4chan, as well as animal protection groups, played a significant role in identifying the girl, who was the subject of several Facebook groups that were created to track her down.
Only a week ago, members of the website identified a British woman, who was caught on camera dumping a family’s cat in a wheelie bin, within 24 hours of the footage being placed online. The woman, Mary Bale, 44, was placed under police protection after receiving death threats from cat lovers.
Bosnian police launched an investigation into the puppy-throwing incident late last week and several animal rights groups, including SOS and PETA, joined the cause to identify the girl.
Transformers director Michael Bay offered a $US50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and successful prosecution of the girl. Twilight star Kellan Lutz wrote on Twitter that he had ”never been so digusted before” and that the video was ‘’so incredibly disturbing and plain out wrong”.
Since tracking down the girl, Bosnian police have questioned her and her parents.
Under Bosnian law a person who kills or tortures animals is punishable only with fines ranging from €15 to €5000.