They broke her spine with sticks, leaving her dying in the Lucania district of Potenza. The care of the vets and volunteers was of no avail: Hana, the cat who had been cared for by the neighborhood residents for six years, died after 20 days of agony. Yet another episode of violence against stray cats and dogs now leads to the establishment of the Hana anti-animal violence committee which, for 7.30pm on May 17th, has organized a candlelight vigil against the phenomenon of animal abuse.
The committee, therefore, was born from the wave of indignation unleashed by Hana’s drama. Between 19 and 20 April, the cat had been savagely beaten by unknown assailants which had caused not only the breaking of her spine, but also the impairment of her spinal cord and physiological functions, as well as internal haemorrhages: wounds compatible with the attack by an armed human being, certainly not by another animal. Despite the care of doctors and volunteers, however, Hana died in the last few hours.
Unfortunately, this is not an isolated case. In recent months, again in Potenza, three cats were closed in a bag and thrown into the Basento river where they died. A pregnant cat was beaten by a hooded man in the Malvaccaro area, also in the Lucanian capital. Another cat had its jaw broken, but as luck would have it, a kind-hearted boy found it and saved it. And the tragedy of the dog Remì, left to die of hunger and thirst, should not be forgotten.
«This escalation of violence must stop – thunder the promoters of the anti-animal violence committee – It is no longer acceptable to witness the death of these poor defenseless souls at the hands of humans, if we want to define them that way, who enjoy performing certain gestures. People must understand that we must report the perpetrators of these crimes because we are talking about crime: reporting serves to prevent these unjustified deaths from happening again.” The Hana anti-animal violence committee was established in this spirit and is now calling together all the citizens of Potenza in view of the torchlight procession on 17 May: «This situation must change and certain events must never happen again», underlines Maria Francesca Molfese, a lifelong volunteer on the front line for animals.
