The horrific killing an Italian police bloodhound has sparked a criminal investigation to find his killers after the dog was found dead on July 4 in his shed in southern Taranto.
The dog’s trainer, Arcangelo Caressa, said the dog, Bruno, a seven-year-old, 195-pound bloodhound, had been fed bits of dog food laced with nails and suspected the killing was revenge against him and not the dog.
“It was deliberately a horrific act to cause the dog intense suffering, because feeding him bites filled with nails means tearing apart his insides, tearing apart his esophagus and internal organs and causing excruciating pain,” Caressa told The Associated Press of Bruno, who helped find nine people over the course of his sniffer-dog rescue career.
This photo made available Tuesday, July 8, 2025 and taken Friday Jan. 4, 2025, shows bits of dog food laced with nails that were fed to a police dog, the 7-year-old bloodhound Bruno, killing him, his trainer Arcangelo Caressa said.
AP Photo/Arcangelo Caressa
In a Facebook post announcing Bruno’s death, Caressa wrote, “Today I died with you… You fought for your whole life to help human beings, and it was humans who did this to you.”
“When a relative of yours needs Bruno, he won’t be there. I thank the Prosecutor’s Office and the police forces who are jointly searching for those responsible for this heinous crime,” Caressa added.
Caressa said that he had told prosecutors that he suspected that he was the ultimate target of Bruno’s killers, and that Bruno was killed “to get to me.”
Caressa runs a volunteer public animal rescue organization, ENDAS, that, among other things, rescues dogs from illegal dogfights. He said the service used to be run by for-profit firms and said he suspected that his competitors were behind Bruno’s killing.
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“In recent months, we have received threats, acts of persecution, defamation and slander from certain individuals who have already been investigated in the past and are known to the judicial authorities, who have been trying in every way to take over this rescue service by despicable means,” Caressa told the outlet.
Caressa said that Bruno was “a giant” and when he went out on a search “you put his harness on, there was no one else like him.”
“He would set off, smell the person we were looking for and run like a train until we found them,” Caressa added.
Italy’s prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, said that Bruno’s slaughter was “vile, cowardly, unacceptable.”
“Thank you for everything you did, Bruno,” she added, sharing a photo with the dog after one of his rescues.
Lawmaker Michael Vittoria Brambilla, a longtime animal rights activist, filed a criminal complaint with prosecutors under a new law that she helped push through stiffening penalties for anyone who kills or mistreats an animal.
“I ask the police to make every effort to ensure that the person responsible for the death of the dog Bruno is brought to justice and responds according to the new rules of the #BrambillaLaw, which provides for those who kill an animal using services or intentionally prolonging their suffering up to 4 years in prison and 60 thousand euro fine,” she wrote on Facebook.
“Probably the person who committed this act of negligence did not do it out of blind cruelty, but with a precise purpose, because Bruno had contributed to confiscating dogs used in fighting.
“For a greater reason … the culprit must be identified and the punishment prescribed by the Brambilla law should be applied.
“We owe it to this noble animal, victim of a vile and unscathed hand.”
The new animal protection law, known as the Brambilla law, went into effect on July 1 and calls for up to four years in prison and a 60,000-euro (around a C$97,000) fine, with the stiffest penalties applied if the mistreatment is committed in front of children or is filmed and disseminated online.
In a second post on July 6, Caressa wrote, “Hi Bru, it’s your human brother speaking to you. I’m sure you’re still by my side, even though I can never caress you again like I used to every day.”
“These days all we do is talk about you, and I’m sure that from where you are you watching everything,” he continued.
“Maybe twinkling between the stars, or maybe you’re watching us silently, with those good eyes that said everything without words needed.”
Caressa said he was “so proud” of Bruno “for what you have been for me and for all the people to whom you brought comfort, hope, salvation.”
“You weren’t just a dog. You were my loyal shadow, my strength in the dark times,” he wrote. “You were, you are and always will be my hero.”
“I will do justice to you by all means. Because you deserve truth, respect, memory,” Caressa added. “He who saves a life never dies, you live now in the hearts you have guided home.”
— with files from The Associated Press
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