Thai court’s decision to suspend jail sentence of man who set Siberian husky on fire sparks outrage – UK Times

A Thai court has sparked outrage after a man convicted of setting a two-year-old Siberian husky on fire was handed a suspended jail sentence.

The female dog, named Molly, was set alight by a 56-year-old man in southern Thailand’s Songkhla province after she escaped from her home in February this year.

Molly was found by a passerby with life-threatening burns and was rushed to a veterinary hospital. Despite receiving treatment, she later died from her injuries.

Efforts were reportedly underway to fly Molly to Bangkok aboard an Air Force aircraft for specialist treatment, but she succumbed to her burns before the transfer could take place.

Police arrested a man following a complaint by the dog’s owner. He told officers he had carried out the attack after discovering that one of his fighting cocks had been bitten. He said he had heard unusual noises from the birds late at night and found one of them injured.

The man was sentenced to six months in prison and fined 50,000 baht (£1,136). However, the prison term was suspended for two years, according to the Mueang Songkhla Police Station.

The Songkhla Provincial Court also placed him on probation for one year, requiring him to report to authorities four times and complete 12 hours of community service.

The ruling, which means the defendant will not serve time behind bars unless he reoffends during the suspension period, has sparked an uproar among animal lovers and rights activists.

Watchdog Thailand Foundation strongly criticised the suspended sentence, saying it was “not a strong enough deterrent” for such a severe act of cruelty.

The organisation said many had hoped for a harsher punishment to set a clear example, while acknowledging that the verdict at least demonstrated that animal cruelty is being taken seriously under Thai law. It called for stronger enforcement and legal reforms to ensure penalties better reflect the severity of such offences.

One social media user, Ben Venter, wrote: “That’s a joke of a sentence.”

Others argued that a suspended sentence and probation amounted to little punishment for such a grave crime and only encouraged animal abuse by signalling that offenders could easily escape meaningful consequences.

“The penalty for something like this is already too light. This is one whole life that’s gone forever. We should see it as a living being just like us, not dismiss it simply as an animal,” one user wrote.