THE South East Animal Welfare League is calling for justice after a terrier cross named Rupert was thrown over its fence without regard to his safety.
Video footage on Facebook, which has since been removed, showed a man attempt to unlock the gate, but upon realising he was unable to enter the premises, he threw Rupert over the fence and drove away.
The next morning SEAWL staff found Rupert traumatised and shaking after a winter night in the elements.
Lucky for Rupert, he was unharmed, but operations coordinator Caitlin Mellor said he was one of the few not injured by such acts.
“The person who did this to him obviously did not care what happened and is incredibly heartless,” she said.
“Rupert is a pretty small dog, so throwing him from there was extremely dangerous for him.
“Although it does not happen often, we have had similar incidents like this and we want the public to know that this behaviour is not okay.”
SEAWL has fought back and reported the person responsible to the RSPCA in the hope of securing legal action.
“We have signage on our front gates showing our opening hours as well as who to call when we are not available,” Ms Mellor said.
“There is no excuse for doing something like this, if you have an animal you can no longer care for, there are many different avenues before carelessly dumping them.
“In the past animals have ended up with broken bones and illness because they have been thrown over our fence and left out in the cold without us knowing.
“Also, if you find an injured animal on a weekend or overnight there is a duty of care to call an after hours vet and they will come out to help.”
As the SEAWL is searching for extra volunteers, it is struggling to meet the demands of surrendered animals, but the spokespeople warned action must to be taken against those who harm animals instead of seeking appropriate assistance.
RSPCA SA was unable to comment on the situation as the matter is under investigation.
