If you know who did this, report it now

I am writing this article on July 16 and hoping that by the time it is published on July 21, someone will have provided the police with sufficient leads to enable arrest and charge of the person or people responsible for setting fire to the kitten in a video that was shared to a WhatsApp news channel.

I received the video on July 15 via from someone I met earlier this year. His message said he had received it in a WhatsApp news group to which he belongs.

The video was prefaced by a "Graphic content" warning from him.

Not knowing what the "content" was, I opened it. A screaming black kitten, set ablaze, was seen running haphazardly toward the camera in a dark setting.

It looked like a brief glimpse of Hades. The unearthly screaming of the kitten was too much for me to bear. In the two seconds or less that I chanced to see before hurriedly scrambling to close the video, I heard a male voice laughing and saying something in a clearly TT accent.

The laughter was reminiscent of the laughter coming from the three men who, in 2020, put a pet dog (the black dog of Embacadere) to hang from a tree, swinging and crying, until she died...while they watched, laughed and recorded their torturous act.

Unbelievably, those three men received a slap on the wrist – a paltry $400 fine each – for their evil deed. Some readers might remember an article I had written on that scenario entitled Letter to the Black Dog of Embacadere.

The sender of the kitten video, a responsible, conscious young man, had most likely sent it to me because he knows I am involved in animal rescue.

Above his message was another WhatsApp message from someone also involved in animal rescue. It was shared via a link that simply said in capital letters: “NEED HELP TO SOLVE THIS CASE.”

Other "animal people" often share related links with me via WhatsApp, so I innocently thought it was a "regular" animal-abuse situation.

I use the word "regular" loosely here. I do not think that any situation of abuse is "regular," but it feels that way in TT because animal abuse is a common occurrence that takes place with little to no appropriate action, allowing such cases to continue, unabated, until they are considered "normal."

When I clicked on the link and realised it was the same video, I responded that I could not watch or share it and advised her to take it to the police.

Few people, however, will make time to go to the police, because of the widespread belief that officers will do nothing.

Sadly, in a human-centric world, and in a landscape within which 15 murders of humans can occur over a weekend, or X number of brazen fatal shootings can occur within a few hours, a screaming, burning kitten will be of little concern to the average police officer or citizen.

Owing to the fact that there is no dedicated animal-cruelty unit in the local police force, the investigation of this crime may be viewed as a waste of police time and resources.

However, it should not be. I have stated this in many of my articles and will repeat here that animal abuse can be a predictor of violent crimes committed against humans.

The following appears on the website of the FBI:

"Historically, animal cruelty has been considered an isolated issue, but recent research shows a well-documented link that it is a predictive or co-occurring crime with violence against humans (including intimate partners, children, and elders) and is associated with other types of violent offences. Increased awareness of this linkage and a collaborative approach to these investigations strengthens the identification and reduction of such crimes."

And, a few paragraphs down:

"Many people frequently assume individuals begin hurting animals and then progress to humans. While this may be true in some instances, it is not the case for all offenders. One study found that 16 per cent of offenders started abusing animals and graduated to violent crimes against humans. However, in many circumstances, offenders start by hurting other humans and then progress to harming animals."

Someone out there must know who set the kitten alight and filmed the video. I hope by the time this article is published, they have made a report and that relevant police and legal action has been taken.