[WORD_ON_THE_WEB] 'The abuser must be arrested'

A pet dog was found buried alive in Jeju in the latest animal abuse case just a week after another dog was found with its mouth and front paws tied up with a rope.

A post on an online community last Tuesday said the dog was found buried alive near Jeju's Dogeuncheon Stream in Naedo-dong with only its mouth and nose above ground.

The shivering dog was skin and bones when it was found.

The dog was a poodle with a registered owner, according to its microchip.

The owner testified to losing the dog three or four days before the rescue.

The case is under investigation with the police checking CCTV footage around the site.

Calls for harsher punishment in animal abuse cases are on the rise as similar cases continue to surface.

According to the data given to Lee Eun-ju, a Justice Party lawmaker, a total of 4,358 individuals were arrested with charges of violating the Animal Protection Act from 2010 to 2020.

Of those, only 2,751 suspects (63.1 percent) were prosecuted, and only five taken into custody.

#stronger_animal_protection_laws
"The Animal Protection Act needs revisions. People can be so vile. I wonder why they didn't receive harsher punishment."
"Animal abuse cases keep popping up. There should be practical measures to prevent such crimes from continuing."

#continuous_abuse
“This is not that simple of a problem. What’s on the news is only a fraction of what’s going on. There are countless cases of abuse occurring, even right now. The abusers continue doing what they do because the punishment is not enough.”
“There’s always news of an animal abuse case. Always. What have the animals done wrong? If this much is on the main news outlets, there must be countless cases of animal abuse unknown to the public. Is no lawmaker going to act on the issue?”

#steal_an_egg_steal_an_ox
"It’s very plausible that someone who abuses animals like that will kill a person without remorse. Animal abusers end up abusing people as well. The abusers need to receive strict punishments."
“Serial killers often start with repeated animal abuse and move on to harm people. The abuser must be arrested. This is dangerous.”

BY LEE SI-YEOUNG, YOO JI-WOO [yoo.jiwoo@joongang.co.kr]