Kaos the ‘hero’ quake rescue dog is dead. His owner suspects poison
The fatal poisoning of a rescue dog used to find survivors in a quake in Italy is sparking calls for tougher penalties against such attacks
When a 6.2-magnitude earthquake hit the central Italian town of Amatrice two years ago, Fabiano Ettore and his German shepherd, Kaos, were among the first to join in the rescue efforts.
Kaos, who was just over a year old at the time, worked for days with other dogs to find survivors of the quake, which killed 241 people and destroyed most of the town, The New York Times reported.
Months after the Amatrice earthquake in August 2016, Kaos also helped with rescue efforts after an earthquake in the town of Norcia and took part in other missing-person searches.
On Saturday, Kaos, hailed as a “hero dog” by Italians, was found dead. Ettore, who found the dog’s body in the garden of their home in Sant’Eusanio Forconese, said in a Facebook post that Kaos has been poisoned.
“I have no words,” he wrote.
“I can’t understand such a horrible act.”
Ettore, who is an animal trainer, added that he was sure Kaos had been alive the previous night because he had heard him barking as late as 2am. It is not immediately clear how Kaos was poisoned or whether it was intentional, but police have opened an investigation, The Guardian reported. Animal rights activists have condemned the incident, describing Kaos’s alleged killer as a “dangerous criminal”.
