Man who hanged 2 dogs named amid online furore

– Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community

PHUKET: Police have identified a man who allegedly killed his two pet dogs by hanging them from a petrol station’s garage roof beam in Chon Buri’s Bang Lamung district on Tuesday and will summon him soon.
Bang Lamung superintendent Pol Colonel Thammanoon Mankhong yesterday inspected the garage, which was rented by a tour company to park buses, and interviewed witnesses.

Thammanoon said the alleged culprit was identified as construction contractor Mana Nattheeprasert, 44, who rented a room at the back of the petrol station. The man reportedly returned from work in Prachuap Khiri Khan to find his two pet dogs lying on his car’s roof and became enraged. He allegedly hanged the dogs until they suffocated to death.

Police were unable to locate Mana at the time of press and urged him via the media to surrender and face a charge of animal cruelty, which is punishable by one month in prison and/or a Bt1,000 fine.

The case sparked an uproar in Thai social-media circles, which circulated a photo of the hanged dogs to condemn the culprit. Representatives of the Facebook group “A Call for Animal Rights Thailand” set a Bt20,000 reward and filed a police complaint, leading to the police investigation.

— Phuket Gazette Editors