Another week, another animal abuser videoed, then hunted down on the Internet.
Be warned. This one is far and above more horrible, and probably more common, than
the "Cat Bin Lady of Britain," captured on video petting, then incongruously dumping a cat in a bin.
Originally posted on LiveLeak, this latest example of all-too-human behavior features a young woman of indeterminate age joyfully tossing puppies into a rushing river. And as with "Cat Bin Lady," a contingent of clever sprites at 4chan's /b/ board may have already tracked her down.
(It's possible to view this video it its entirety via the Gawker link below, but again, be advised. The video contains graphic content and contains images of animal abuse. Remember the No. 1 Rule of the Internet: There are things that can't be unseen.)
By Monday night, 4chan members tracked down the Bosnian owner of the YouTube account that originally uploaded the video, two Facebook profiles that may belong to the young woman in the video, as well as profiles of the possible videographer and friends,
Gawker's Max Read reports. As with the case of "Cat Bin Lady," harassment ensued.
Accurate identification, or at least successful harassment, is evidenced via the YouTube account owner's post on "
a Croatian gaming forum complaining about 4chan. (Based on a shoddy Google translation, it also sounds like he admits to having something to do with the video — especially in
this comment, where he talks about a diseased dog.)," Read writes.
Last week, 4chan received both credit and commendations for the rapid identification of "Cat Bin Lady" and her public confession – a contentious matter both outside and within the 4chan community. For those unfamiliar with the power of 4chan's hive mind, it's worth noting that this is the Web community credited with pranks that occupy the wide range between playful and malicious.
Previous pranks attributed to 4chan members include denial-of-service attacks on other websites, skyrocketing "
Justin Bieber Syphilis" to the top of Google searches, the invention of Rick Rolling and the harassment of 11-year-old viral video star
Jessi Slaughter. So while mainstream netizens may applaud the harassment of animal abusers who seem to deserve it, to consider these last two instances a trend would be naive.
In Gawker's screen capture of 4chan's fact-finding mission, one user addresses a newcomer to the site, writing "we abuse humans here not animals." Another expresses his — how do you say? — "disappointment" in the justice-seeking tenor of the last two weeks. "This place used to be the darkest pit of the internet … now this place is full of justicef**s all over."
Yeah, don't bet on it. As long as there's an Internet, animal abusers won't be safe from 4chan … and neither will anyone else.