200 March in Peru to Protest Killing of Terrier

LIMA, Peru —  About 200 dog owners marched with their barking pets through Peru’s capital to protest the killing of Venancio, a Staffordshire bull terrier shot to death by a man who said the dog bit his 11-year-old son on the right hand.

The protesters said the dog was on a leash and away from the boy at the time of the shooting, and had only wanted to play with the child and his ball at the park where he was shot.

“The march is to protest the cowardly assassin who targeted my dog,” said Venancio’s owner, Hector Rospigliosi, who led the demonstration Thursday night through the streets of Miraflores, an upper-middle class neighborhood. Rospigliosi denied that Venancio bit the child.

The marchers also wanted to voice their anger about the treatment of dogs in a country where the animals are often considered nothing more than a security measure against robbers and are kept on rooftops or locked in backyards where they survive on scraps.

The group sent their district mayor a petition with 2,783 signatures demanding that a law against animal cruelty be used to prosecute Venancio’s killer.

The protesters also asked that guards be posted in Miraflores parks, armed with dart pistols to tranquilize dogs in emergencies.

Two weeks after Venancio’s shooting, four men were maimed in another Lima park by a mongrel pit bull, allegedly after the dog’s master ordered the animal to attack.

Police said Friday that they were investigating Venancio’s killing as well as the father’s allegation that the dog bit the child.

More than 25,000 people have reported being bitten by dogs in Peru this year, according to the Ministry of Health. But Peruvian law is vague about owners’ responsibility if their dogs attack someone.

“What is needed are more up-to-date laws,” Ermanno Maniero, an international judge of purebred dogs, told the El Comercio newspaper.

“Even if dogs are considered man’s best friend . . . we must also ensure the health and physical security of humans.”

Many of the marchers Thursday night carried placards declaring that the dog that was shot will not be forgotten.

“Venancio will always be in our hearts,” said Maria del Carmen, hugging her black-and-silver husky.