PETA Statement: Abusive K-9 Handler Resigns; Questions Remain

For Immediate Release:
March 31, 2021

Contact:
Nicole Meyer 202-483-7382

Below, please find a statement from PETA Senior Vice President Daphna Nachminovitch in response to the announcement that the Salisbury Police Department handler in North Carolina who was caught on video abusing a K-9 named Zuul has resigned following a public outcry and an investigation:

Salisbury has taken a step in the right direction by finally heeding the international outcry surrounding the dragging, hauling, slamming, and punching of a K-9 named Zuul. Nonetheless, unanswered questions remain, including why this took five months and a viral video when other officers witnessed the abuse and some city officials were aware of it. We want to know when cruelty charges will finally be filed and what the Salisbury Police Department is doing to implement modern, humane training methods so that no other K-9s suffer as Zuul did. PETA looks forward to progress and transparency.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way”—opposes speciesism, which is a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.