Some Assholes in Honduras Blew Up a Dog and Put the Video Online

The January 17 video above, which depicts people strapping explosives to a dog, edits out the part where the dog actually explodes. If for some reason you'd like a link to a full video of this horrible thing that happened, well, you're on your own there, but it exists. The video is high on the list of Worst Things in the World, and far, far crueler than your usual internet shock vid.

What you're seeing is a group of what look like about ten chuckling 17- to 20-year-olds strapping two huge explosive bundles to a dog. It'd be bad enough if they were ten-year-old kids without fully formed brains who were using rinky-dink fireworks bought from the back of someone's truck. It still wouldn't be forgivable, but at least there would be an element of experimentation.

The dog is also skinny and clearly frightened—it wouldn't be acceptable if it was rabid and needed to be put down, but the way it seems to known what's coming makes it harder to watch. Worst of all, the ten men clearly think it's a hilarious idea.

The internet pitchfork squads are, of course, out for the blood of the guys in the video. A Reddit commenter named RubyRadley wrote this morning that "The names of these two pieces of shit should be in big bold letters on the headline of every article written about them." I assume RubyRadley means the two people manhandling the dog, not the many, many bystanders who could have intervened. But for what it's worth their names are out there.

An outraged internet person named Amanda Perry grabbed their names from a Honduran newspaper and put them online. In fact, the story took off when she saw it on LiveLeak and tried to get the Honduran government to take action by starting an online petition at a site called YouSignAnimals. Last week the Honduran newspaper El Heraldo reported that the people involved ended up receiving a fine of 2,000 lempiras, or $95, and have to undergo 40 hours of community service. That might seem like a slap on the wrist, but in a country with a purchasing power below that of Botswana, that adds up to quite a bit of money.

Anyway, the police in Honduras have more on their plates than any other cops in the world. They just got finished shuttling a new Miss Honduras to the Miss Universe Pageant after the previous Miss Honduras, María José Alvarado, was mysteriously murdered. (The country has made serious progress in reducing its murder rate recently.)

In other words, all things considered, the punishment these assholes received was a decent outcome. All that's left now is for you to vent your rage into a comments section.

But after you do that, if you feel the need to get back at these little maniacs—and I know some of you will—maybe try and steer your rage boner in a productive direction. Practical steps to reduce cruelty to animals exist. Did you know that World Spay Day is next month? Maybe you'll feel better if you volunteer.

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