MEDELLÍN, Colombia, Nov. 10 (UPI) — Animal rights activists encouraged their pets to relieve themselves on the home of a man accused of beating up an 80-year-old neighbor and his 15-year-old dog for letting the canine urinate outside his home in Medellín, Colombia.
Hugo López, 80, was walking his dog, Twister, a beagle, in Medellín’s Belén La Nubia neighborhood on Friday when Twister relieved himself near the home of the neighbor. López’s daughter, Viviana, said Twister did not urinate on the house, but on the street.
“Given the insults, my dad told him to calm down, that he’ll clean and later followed his path toward the park, how he has done daily for years,” Viviana said, El Tiempo reported.
The neighbor allegedly attacked López soon after. He punched López and kicked him repeatedly after he fell to the floor. The man also kicked Twister, causing the dog to fly back several feet.
López needed an emergency operation after sustaining a fractured hip. Twister was under treatment at a veterinarian’s clinic through Monday.
On Sunday, about 20 protesters, made up of several animal rights activists and neighbors, gathered outside of the accused assailant’s home and encouraged the pets they brought with them to relieve themselves on his property.
The man did not seem to be home and some neighbors said he abandoned the property, Noticias Caracol reported.
Lis Echeverry, an animal rights leader in Antioquia Department, where Medellín is located, condemned the protest, stating that the way to combat animal abuse is through education and promoting the establishment of laws and regulations to punish abusers.
Echeverry said “leaving fecal droppings lends itself to many things, and that in part encourages conflict and, in turn, does not give a solution. So I’m not in agreement.”
Silvia Ospina, the organizer of the protest, said that relevant justice does not operate in Colombia, so the only way to combat such acts is through social rejection.
“We seek to draw attention and make symbolic protest, but it was nothing of violence since we did not attack anyone,” Ospina said. “We are tired of 10 years of struggle for the respect of animals, so you have to draw attention through other ways.”
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