Men Who Brutally Threw Family Bulldog Down Stairs Need Police Protection, Online Petition Circulated [Graphic Video]
Warning: Graphic Video
British police were called out last week to protect two men who filmed themselves brutally abusing the family bulldog, while an online petition is being circulated to put the two men behind bars.
Andrew Frankish, 22, and Daniel Frankish, 18, filmed themselves repeatedly throwing the family bulldog, Baby, down a flight of stairs in a video branded as extreme abuse by animal rights activists.
The two boys received 21-week suspended sentences for the horrific animal abuse they inflicted on the Frankish family pet bulldog, were forbidden from owning animals for the rest of their lives, forced to pay a fine, and given a curfew.
That didn’t sit well with pet lover Alex Richardson, who started a Change.org petition to ask the British Prime Minister to examine the boys’ sentences, reports the Express.
“The sheer callousness of what they did is absolutely disgusting. Even if nothing comes of it, at least I won’t have sat back and done nothing.”
The Change.org petition circulating online urges the Prime Minister to examine the boys’ sentences because the suspended punishment dished out by the court is inadequate for the “disgusting and cruel actions” shown in the film.
The video shows Andrew Frankish repeatedly throwing the family’s pet bulldog down a flight of stairs, pile-driving the defenseless dog to the ground in a simulated wrestling move and stamping on her head and chest with his full weight, reports the Express.
“See if we can make it scream any more. We should throw it down the stairs by its ears.”
The Change.org petition circulating online has already gathered some 124,000 signatures, and Richardson is hoping to deliver it to the Prime Minister this week, Richardson told the Express.
“The bulldog was obviously terrified and she couldn’t fight back. It just really angered me and I thought, I can’t let this sit.”
A sizable group of pet owners agreed with Richardson’s disgust with the boys’ brutal torture of the family dog, and last week they visited the Frankish family’s neighborhood in a mob on Good Friday. The two boys have received a number of threats since the video went viral, and last Friday, concerned neighbors were forced to call the police, fearing the mob would turn violent.
@mshafiquk @David_Cameron what depressing news. A PM supporting animal abuse in this day and age. Hope he does not have a dog. Sad world.
— mr_dazmeister (@mr_dazmeister) April 1, 2014
In the end, no offense was committed, and no one was arrested.
The controversy comes too late to save the bulldog, Baby, however — she was put to sleep three months after the video was recorded after suffering from paralysis and losing the use of her back legs.
The horrific video chronicling the boys’ abuse of the family dog was taken in 2013, but wasn’t discovered until the camera’s SD card containing the footage was discovered on a shop floor.
The pair were arrested that same day.
#Petition punish #AndrewandDanielFrankish's prison sentences for #animalcruelty #dog #abuse https://t.co/II5nDnwMhT
— Denise Dreon-Watson (@denise_dreon) March 26, 2016
RSPCA inspector Gemma Lynch told the Express that even experienced animal welfare workers, who witness cruelty and neglect on a daily basis, were shocked by Frankish’s behavior in the video.
“Everyone who has seen the video says it’s the most distressing thing they’ve ever seen, and these are people who have seen a lot of horrible things. What happened to her will stay with me, and all of us who worked on this case, forever.”
[Photo by AP Photo/Andreea Alexandru]
