ROME (AP) — The horrific killing of a police bloodhound, who helped discover 9 folks over the course of his sniffer-dog rescue profession, has outraged Italians and sparked a felony investigation to seek out his killers.
Bruno, a 7-year-old, 88-kilogram (195-pound) bloodhound, was discovered lifeless Friday morning in his shed in southern Taranto. His coach, Arcangelo Caressa, stated he had been fed bits of pet food laced with nails. In an interview Tuesday, Caressa stated he suspected the killing was revenge in opposition to him — not Bruno — for his volunteer animal rescue work.
“It was intentionally a horrific act to trigger the canine intense struggling, as a result of feeding him bites full of nails means tearing aside his insides, tearing aside his esophagus and inside organs and inflicting excruciating ache,” Caressa instructed The Related Press.
Premier Giorgia Meloni, who was photographed with Bruno after considered one of his heroic rescues, stated that his slaughter was “vile, cowardly, unacceptable.” Lawmaker Michael Vittoria Brambilla, a longtime animal rights activist, filed a felony grievance with prosecutors below a brand new legislation that she helped push by way of stiffening penalties for anybody who kills or mistreats an animal.
The editor of the Il Giornale every day, Vittorio Feltri, voiced outrage, saying Bruno had carried out extra civic good in Italy than most Italian residents.
Caressa stated that he had instructed prosecutors that he suspected that he was the final word goal of Bruno’s killers, and that Bruno was killed “to get to me.”
Caressa runs a volunteer public animal rescue group, ENDAS, that amongst different issues rescues canines from unlawful dogfights. He stated the service was once run by for-profit corporations and stated he suspected that his opponents had been behind Bruno’s killing.
“In current months, now we have acquired threats, acts of persecution, defamation and slander from sure people who’ve already been investigated previously and are recognized to the judicial authorities, who’ve been attempting in each solution to take over this rescue service by despicable means,” Caressa instructed The Related Press.
This photograph taken Jan. 11, 2025 in Taranto, southern Italy, and made obtainable Tuesday, July 8, 2025, exhibits Bruno, a 7-year-old bloodhound who was discovered lifeless Friday, July 4, in his shed in Taranto after he was fed bits of pet food laced with nails, his coach Arcangelo Caressa stated. (AP Photograph/Claudia Aloisio)
The brand new animal safety legislation, often known as the Brambilla legislation, went into impact on July 1 and requires as much as 4 years in jail and a 60,000-euro (round a $70,000) positive, with the stiffest penalties utilized if the mistreatment is dedicated in entrance of kids or is filmed and disseminated on-line.
Feltri stated that the penalty ought to be even better than 4 years, saying animals have to be revered “particularly once they behave heroically” as Bruno had.
Caressa stated that Bruno might need appeared clumsy and chubby, however was highly effective, sturdy and devoted to his job.
“He was a large,” stated Caressa. “When he went out on a search and you set his harness on, there was nobody else like him. He would set off, scent the individual we had been in search of and run like a prepare till we discovered them.”
Formally, his document stands at 9 folks discovered: 5 individuals who had been alive and 4 whose our bodies had been recovered, he stated.
“However the motto for us rescuers is at all times the identical: Convey the lacking individual dwelling in any case, as a result of there’s at all times somebody amongst their kinfolk who’s in search of that lacking individual,” he stated.