PETA Offers Gbp 1,000 To Help Catch Pony Tormentor

For Immediate Release:
18 August 2009

Contact:
Sam Glover 020 7357 9229, ext 229; [email protected]

Stapleford, Nottinghamshire – In what is believed to have been a horrific act of cruelty, a pony was set on fire in Stapleford on Sunday, 9 August. According to news reports, a 4-year-old horse named Baby Boo was apparently doused with petroleum and set on fire. She kicked through her metal gate to get away from her attackers and was found in a field off Mill Road at 6:30 pm with burn marks on her body.

PETA is offering a reward of up to £1,000 for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for this horrific crime.

Stapleford residents have good reason to be concerned about cruelty-to-animals cases such as this. History shows that serial rapists and murderers often have backgrounds which include incidents involving cruelty to animals. Child-killers Mary Bell, Robert Thompson and Jon Venables as well as serial murderers Ian Huntley, Thomas Hamilton (Dunblane massacre), Fred West, Denis Nilsen, Ian Brady and Jeffrey Dahmer all started out by deliberately harming animals.

PETA is urging residents to keep a watchful eye on their animals and to keep them indoors. Because animals cannot report their own abuse and can do little to fight back, they are the perfect “practice” victims for those with violent tendencies.

“Animal abusers are cowards”, says PETA spokesperson Suzanne Barnard. “They take their issues out on the most defenceless beings available to them.”

Anyone with information about this case is encouraged to call the RSPCA on 0300 1234 999.

For more information about the link between cruelty to animals and violence towards humans (or to find free humane-education resources), please visit PETAF.org.uk.