A horrific case of animal cruelty gained international attention, including an online hunt for the suspects, when a video emerged early this week which appears to show a young woman throwing six small puppies into a river.

What is particularly disturbing about the video is that she appears to be enjoying the act. Another individual shot the video.

Facebook pages and message boards have been clogged with people lining up to condemn the act, although in some exceptional cases, some are coming to her defence.

The video, posted to Liveleaks.com, gathered well over 1.5 million page views in less than two days.

Rosolynn Kalb, branch manager of the North Peace SPCA, said that, unfortunately, acts like those portrayed in the video are not uncommon, even in Fort St. John.

“People are going to look at that video and say, ‘Thank God it does not happen here,’” Kalb said.

“If it is a legitimate incident and not a hoax, I find it appalling, disgusting and all of those adjectives but it is not something that has not happened here. It does happen here.”

She provided several examples of cases over the years where people were accused or convicted of acts that would easily rival what appears to be happening in this video.

“We had someone a number of years ago, call to let us know they had witnessed as incident of someone throwing puppies out onto the Taylor Bridge,” Kalb recalled.

“It was a lady that was coming behind who saw someone throw a bag of something out onto the bridge. When she looked, out tumbled a puppy and so sadly, before she could stop it was run over. There was at least one more puppy there, however, that was saved. Only one survived.”

The shelter had a photo of the animal and its story published in the newspaper and incredibly, Kalb said, another witness to the event came forward.

“Someone came forward who was actually in the car with the person who did this. He said his conscience would not let him stay quiet.

"He gave us the name of the person and said he would testify. The person was convicted in absentia because he had skipped the province on other matters,” she said.

She commented that the SPCA will often get calls about animals left either at the landfill or in dumpsters around town.

“I can recall one case where a man was out at the dump and he saw what appeared to be a brand new baby blanket just laying there. He went over and flipped the blanket over and there was one puppy. He brought the puppy in the blanket to me at my other job. He handed it to me saying ‘I found this at the dump, here.’”

That was many years ago, at a time when Kalb was still surprised at some of what she witnessed.

“Why would you dump a living, breathing thing? I just couldn’t believe it. It was tiny, four or five inches long. The odds were completely against this little girl dog, but she lived and ended up being adopted by a little girl who named her Lucky.”

Kalb said that some owners who find themselves with an unexpected little of kittens or puppies, in some cases, will just let the animals go rather than surrender them to the shelter.

One woman called and asked what might happen to her kitten if she brought it to the shelter.

When Kalb explained that if it could not be adopted out, in the worst-case scenario it may have to be put down.

“The lady said, ‘Well, I am not bringing the animal there then, I am going to just let it go,’” Kalb remembered.

“I said, ‘You must be joking. Here is a place where we can house this animal and potentially find it a home and I am telling you the worst case scenario and you are willing to just let this poor thing go in the winter and possibly have it freeze to death?’”

She said sometimes people are more comforted by releasing an animal than killing it themselves, even if it is likely the animal could suffer more.

Kalb said the best possible situation would be where people take responsibility for their pets.

“That means if your dog gets sick, you treat it. If you dog has puppies, it is your responsibility to find homes for those puppies.”

She said, however, that as a last option the shelter can accept surrendered animals.

“We would far prefer that people take responsibility for their animals, but we can be a last resort if there are no other options.”

The puppy that was rescued from the Taylor Bridge, survived and was adopted.

For more information on the North Peace SPCA and animals available for adoption visit www.spca.bc.ca/branches/north-peace/ or call 250-785-7722.