Chaiyaphum man arrested for allegedly slashing dog’s throat
Suspect intended to sell meat of neighbour’s dog, police say
A 69-year-old man in Chaiyaphum was arrested on Tuesday for allegedly slashing the throat of a neighbour’s pet dog and fatally injuring it with intent to cook its meat to sell.
Police arrested the man, identified only as Ae, a day after the dog’s owner, Charoon Charoenkhun, 62, a resident of Chaiyaphum’s Phu Khiew district, filed a complaint against him.
Charoon filed the complaint on Monday alleging that Ae fatally injured her dog, a half-breed American bulldog that was one year and two months old, on Sunday morning.
Charoon told police that she did not see her dog when it was time to feed it so she went outside, where she saw it lying with blood flowing from its throat in front of Ae’s house.
She rushed the dog to a veterinarian but it died at 8.30am on Monday, after which she filed a complaint with police.
After his arrest, Ae allegedly admitted slashing the dog’s throat with the intention of using its meat to make soup to sell in the village.
He claimed that he thought the dog was a stray animal and that he did not know it was illegal to kill and eat a dog. He also claimed he often took dogs that had been hit by vehicles to eat.
Pol Col Samit Nannaruemit, commander of Phu Khiew police station, said police charged the man with animal cruelty but released him pending arraignment in court.
A neighbour, Surasak Mitrmart, 42, told police that he saw Ae attacking the dog and that he was about to slash its throat a second time after did not die instantly, but its owner appeared, so he did not make the second attack.
