As I sit to write this article, I feel a deep tiredness within – a "what’s the point" kind of exhaustion generated by the awareness that I am (again) writing about another heinous act committed against an animal that could go unpunished for one ridiculous reason or another. This, although there is amended animal welfare legislation (with fines of up to $200,000 and five years in jail for animal abuse/cruelty) sitting on a shelf gathering dust and cobweb.

The case to which I make reference is the one in which a Carnbee villager shot a pet Husky (Lexi) with a pellet gun, tied a rope around her neck, dragged her into the street and proceeded to beat her with a shovel until she died. (As I write this it is February 17; I learned about the case on social media yesterday – so further details are sparse).

I was unable to watch beyond two seconds of the video posted on social media, after seeing the dog being dragged and realising that footage was of the act. Thankfully, someone had the presence of mind to film the violent sequence, presumably from the upper room of a nearby building. That video evidence is in the hands of the police and the latest reports are that "charges will be laid."

I (and I am sure many others throughout TT) wait with bated breath to see what these "charges" will be. Will they reflect the severity of this gruesome act? Or, like the three Trinidadian men who, in a self-professed (and might I say delusional) "act of mercy" killed the black dog of Embacadere by hanging her from a tree (while laughing and filming the process to upload to social media) – will Lexi’s killer get off with a mere slap on the wrist?

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Few of us will forget the case of the three "hangmen" – not only because of how horrific it was but because they got off with fines of $400 each and were practically "congratulated" by their attorney in his definition of their crime as one of "compassion." With legal outcomes like that, how can we have hope that justice will ever be served in TT when human beings commit such unimaginable atrocities against members of the animal kingdom?

Where are those three "hangmen" now? What are they doing? Did the one who "owned" the canine victim get another dog? Possibly. After all, we live in a country where one can commit such an unthinkable act and still be allowed to "own" a pet thereafter.

In developed countries, where laws against animal cruelty are not only strict, but actually enforced, after anyone is convicted of a criminal act against an animal, the court is likely to prohibit the defendant from possessing an animal for a certain period of time, or indefinitely – one way of preventing or at least severely lessening the likelihood of repeat offences.

Some people who dared to view the entire video of the Husky's killing commented on the number of cars that drove by the scene of the crime without stopping or even slowing down, to see what had happened. "Drink water and mind my business," as Patrice Roberts wo