Man Burnt Neighbor's Dog After It Scratched Him For Urinating Near Kennel

A man burnt his neighbor’s dog to death after it scratched him for urinating near its kennel in Indonesia’s capital Jakarta on Friday.

In an Instagram post Tuesday, Christian Joshua Pale, a representative of Sarana Metta Indonesia Foundation, an animal rights group, said the dog named Lucky was in its kennel when a neighbor started urinating next to it. The dog got up and scratched the man in response. The unnamed man, a taxi driver, got angry and threatened the dog’s owner that he would kill the animal if she did not move the kennel to another place.

Melly, the dog’s owner, however, did not take the threat seriously and went to a nearby mosque to perform her prayers. When she returned, she found the dog in critical condition. The dog, a cross-bred Dalmatian, was rushed to a local animal clinic where it succumbed to injuries a while later.

“When the owner came home she was shocked to see Lucky dying with burns. It turned out that the threat was real. Lucky was burned alive in his cage after the culprit smashed a bottle of gasoline against his head,” Pale told local daily Kompas.

Pale said the foundation along with the dog’ owner found evidence and eyewitnesses to the incident and filed a police complaint.

“It’s true that we have collected several pieces of evidence. That was a suggestion from the Menteng Police which asked us to file a report and to collect evidence and eyewitnesses to strengthen our case,” Pale said.

A police officer said the suspect too was planning to file a case against the dog after a medical examination to prove that it attacked him.

“We will summon the suspect [for questioning] but the suspect who burned the dog also wanted to file a report because [he claimed] his legs were bitten by the dog,” the police said, adding, “The suspect had already undergone a medical examination.”

Meanwhile, Go-Jek, the company the suspect works for, said it would investigate the case.

“Regarding the information on social media that the suspect was a Go-Jek driver, we can say we are currently processing the incoming reports. We are continuing to investigate this further internally,” the company’s corporate affairs vice president Michael Reza said, adding that the suspect would be reprimanded if found guilty following the investigation.

“Violence like this cannot be justified and we are not afraid to reprimand the driver who turned out to be the suspect,” he added.