London: A teenager shoved a puppy face down into a bucket of freezing water in a mimic of the ‘ice bucket challenge’ fund-raising craze.
In a clip posted online, the dog could be seen desperately trying to wriggle free, yelping as her owner thrust her into the water.
During the 19-second video the youth from London says: “Here’s my dog and she’s doing the ice bucket challenge. She wants to nominate all the other dogs here and all the cats as well, yeah.”
The barefoot teenager then asks the puppy, “You ready?”, before throwing her into the bucket with such force he loses his footing.
His stunt copies the ‘ice bucket challenge’, in which people film themselves being doused in freezing water to raise money and awareness for ALS — a type of motor neuron disease — before daring others to do the same. But the RSPCA is investigating and said it was likely the dog had been harmed.
Facebook users branded the video “awful” and “just wrong”.
Beverley Cuddy, 52, said: “It really upset me the way it was plunged headfirst” People are appalled by it and it’s the sort of thing that could spark an awful trend and be replicated. It’s one thing to put yourself through discomfort but pets don’t have a choice.
“Lots of people complained to Facebook but they simply said it did not contravene their rules on violence “It’s awful, it’s just wrong”’
The clip, which has since been taken down by the teenager, was shared more than 1,000 times on the social media site and was posted to YouTube, prompting outrage from Internet users.
Saskia Booth described the clip as “just awful” and Anna Stimson said: “Throwing her in headfirst like that is harsh”
Shannon Beardon wrote on Facebook: “That’s mean”. The youngster replied: “I sorry my dog slipped out my hand [sic].”
An RSPCA spokesman said: “The aim of the ice bucket challenge is to raise money and awareness for charity — this “stunt” goes against everything it stands for.
“Any responsible pet owner would be shocked by this. It is likely that the puppy in the footage could have been caused distress, if not harm. Causing unnecessary suffering to an animal is an offence under law and we would strongly urge people not to copy this video.”
Earlier this year Ben Elphick and Gavin Hope were fined for causing unnecessary suffering to goldfish by swallowing them in a ‘NekNominate’ video. The craze, which was not for charity, began with Internet users daring each to other to down mixtures of alcohol.