A Lebanese woman has been dubbed “inhuman and uncivilised” after a video that showed her shooting and killing a dog outside her home went viral last Friday. She now faces legal action.

The video showed a woman armed with a hunting rifle shooting twice at a dog, believed to be a German shepherd, and killing it in Lebanon’s Western Bekaa Valley region. It sparked outrage as it spread on social media, along with calls from users and animal-right activists for the woman to be arrested.

The outcry prompted Minister of Agriculture, Abbas Al-Hajj Hassan, to call on the local authorities to launch an investigation. He said he had contacted the region’s general prosecutor, “who will direct officials to take appropriate action.”

The woman had deactivated her Facebook account but before doing so she posted a message saying that she killed the animal as “an act of self defence” because a month ago the animal bit her daughter while she was feeding it.

She posted photos of her daughter’s injuries to corroborate her story and said that the girl had been hospitalised and undergone surgery.

Nevertheless, animal right activists want the woman “punished for her brutal and inhuman act.”

Antoine Kanaan, a lawyer and editor-in-chief of the Lebanon Law Review, said the woman’s act was punishable under the provisions of existing animal welfare laws. –arabnews.com