A Facebook post that has gone viral since it went on June 5, claims protesters stole a pitbull mixing puppy from a Memphis puppy shelter and killed it in a while after appearing live last May.
The message also indicates that the hounds of a Memphis-based broadcasting station have remained on the sidelines and have observed animal abuse in an effort to protect a story.
He says: “Then, a Twitter report on #Memphis says the troublemakers/criminals in Memphis broke into the animal shelter and took a dog. A little big thug. He tied an electrical wire around his neck and made him parade through the streets in front of the news. cameras (ABC24) throwing it around its neck like a toy. The dog was then discovered dead in the street. Strangled. Nobody stopped them. No media has done anything. PERSON didn’t do anything. Now, the media is going to get Memphis officials to investigate? You may have just stopped that, but you didn’t because you had to get your story.
The message has amassed many racist comments and says that the user holding the dog and the hounds provide death. The message has attracted misleading policies from various online media that aggregate the original reports.
USA TODAY contacted Facebook that posted the comment message.
A petition filed in Change.org calling for maximum air-felt prosecution signed through more than 117,000 people as of August 21.
The Memphis government animal welfare firm issued a message in reaction to the viral message’s claims, explaining that “all we have noticed are statements not sent on social media, regularly from other outdoors in the area, none of whom can hint at information. In the fountain. “
Memphis Animal Services spokeswoman Katie Pemberton said the shelter was “concerned” about the way the dog was being treated, but until mid-August she had not received reports of a stolen dog matching the puppy’s description as noted in the message.
The shelter also obtained reports “that a puppy or dog matching this description has been discovered dead.”
In addition, Pemberton said, “We have very strong partnerships with rescue teams in our area, and I guess if that had happened to a local rescue group, we would have been informed.”
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Ranise Coppens, president of Memphis-based animal rescue company ALIVE Rescue Memphis, refuted the claim that the dog was stolen from a rescue organization in Memphis.
“There’s no way that’s going to happen,” he said.
Coppens explained that Memphis animal rescue agencies paint and talk to others on a daily basis. If the animal had been stolen from one of Memphis’ rescue organizations, Coppens, along with other animal rescuers, he would have known.
“The only way to borrow the dog is to inform someone no one has heard of about a rescue organization,” he said.
The guy holding the puppy was originally seen at Local 24, ABC’s partner station in Memphis, a live broadcast.
Members of the press team saw a dog and a boy, just as the couple first noticed at the exhibition and posted an updated story, showing a photo of the animal taken on June 3, a few days after the original ad aired.
The story pointed to the amount of incorrect information shared, adding the rumor that the team showed the dog suffocated live.
According to our research, the claim is FALSE. According to interviews with public and personal animal welfare organizations, no dog theft was reported from a rescue agency. A more detailed examination of Local 24 photographs and photographs of social media from other angles shows that the dog was pierced by the skin of his neck and manipulated in a way that some might be cruel, but was not strangled. A June 3 photo taken through the media in Memphis shows the same dog alive and supposedly healthy.
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