A number of dogs were violently attacked with stones and beaten with brooms, in a sickening act of cruelty by heartless thugs who broke into an animal rescue pound run by volunteers in Taboeira, in the district of Aveiro (central Portugal), last Saturday.
The intruders forced the main entrance door to the kennels – run by the Associação de Felinos e Cães Todos Unidos, which provides shelter for homeless and abandoned dogs and cats – and left a trail of destruction.
Tiles were smashedalong with the sanitation installations, tools were stolen and kilos of animal food was taken as well as veterinary medicine.
The callous intruders opened the dog pens which caused aggression and fighting between the released animals.
They also carried away three dogs, one of which was later found with serious wounds needing veterinary treatment .
The volunteers association spokesperson described the episode as “an act of mindless cruelty” causing mayhem and damage amounting to thousands of euros.
The association last year raised €7,000 for veterinary treatment to stray or abandoned dogs and cats in their care.
The report, in Diário de Aveiro newspaper, comes at a time when a protest against animal cruelty and culling at municipal kennels is to be staged on February 2 at 3pm at the Largo Academia Nacional de Belas Artes in Lisbon.
The protest, entitled ‘Manifestação pelo Animal’, is being organised by ANIMAL association, whose members will make their voices heard outside the Portuguese Food and Veterinary Office (Direção-Geral de Alimentação e Veterinária).
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