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Karl Schembri
As the country is still reeling from shock in the wake of the macabre killing of the three Tal-Fenek dogs in a Gozo farm last Tuesday, residents from the Xewkija community fear that the police are taking the case too lightly as no evidence has been lifted from the site and no suspects have yet been arrested.
Sources close to farm owner Michael Bugeja, aged 69 and known as Il-Kuskus, say the case seems doomed to remain one of the Gozitan unsolved cases mired in the typical islander omertà. They refer to a string of recent thefts that happened in Xewkija that have also remained unsolved and to the history of dog killings on Bugeja’s farm in Xewkija valley which remain a mystery.
In fact, this was not the first time that Bugeja had his dogs killed on his farm, although this was the most brutal one with the three dogs hanged from a steal beam in a vendetta-style murder. Bugeja fainted last Tuesday upon seeing them. Eight other Tal-Fenek dogs and a Labrador belonging to the farmer were poisoned over the years.
Friends of Bugeja believe the killing was meant to be a message by someone who goes hunting for rabbits in the same Xewkija valley, possibly in competition with the farm owner and on his own land.
They say the killers must have found it easy to slaughter the animals by hanging as the two bitches – one of them heavily pregnant and the other still mothering three puppies – were very docile and friendly.
“They always greeted anyone who got close to them as they were very friendly,” sources said.
On the other hand, the male dog killed was territorial and quite aggressive but it was kept chained. Bugeja’s family believe the dogs were clubbed with a steel pipe found on site before they were hanged.
The police have only been once on site and sources say that no finger prints were taken, nor did they take any samples of blood found on the scene.
Investigations are being entrusted to Gozitan police and not to the Administrative Law Enforcement, which normally deals with cases of animal cruelty.
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