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Innocent Nguyễn seems ready to take legal action after being called ‘trash’ in clip showing dog mauling
Vietnamese police have summoned a noodle seller after a video of his mutt being mauled by a dog went viral on social media.
Nguyễn who sells chicken in his neighbourhood of Vùn Hai, near Hanoi, filmed the Oct 15 dog attack as well as a neighbouring dog attacking a domestic cat. The video of his mutt was posted on Nov 26.
“My dog won’t eat rice, only the water. If I eat it he will eat it with me. We are not anti-dogs, but we eat rice without dogs,” Nguyễn is heard saying at the start of the clip.
He added that the dog came on to his property and when he tried to get it off he was attacked.
The video showed the dog biting the owner’s dog several times and mutilating its neck.
Vietnam’s deputy mayor Nguyen Tinh said a month ago that the man in the video should be charged with causing public disorder.
“We summoned Nguyễn to report on [his] complaint to the police station, but he did not show up at this time,” an official at the police station told AFP, without giving further details.
“We will contact him and ask him to appear before the police. If he does not show up, the police will summon him,” he added.
Krystle Fish, a lawyer at IPV Solicitors, representing Nguyễn, said the father of three was “ready to be the first in Vietnam to file a case to have the video viewed legally”.
“After this, no one will ever dare to do something like this again,” she said.
“He is not antisocial in his manner. He is only defending the rights of his animals.”
The video was widely shared on Facebook and social media, with some commenters criticising the owner for being weak and for not stepping in and attacking the dog.
It has since been edited, with the dog’s two owners swapping places with Nguyễn’s, a screenshot shows.
According to an analysis from Facebook in 2017, Vietnam had one of the highest dog attacks rates in the world.