12-year-old arrested after striking dogs with axe in northwestern Manitoba
Posted June 3, 2026 6:08 pm.
Last Updated June 3, 2026 6:52 pm.
Manitoba First Nations police have arrested a 12-year-old boy after a video circulated in a group chat depicting a male youth using an axe to strike numerous dogs, resulting in at least one being killed.
“There is absolutely a connection between cruelty to animals and cruelty to humans. And I think this is a huge red flag. If someone’s doing this to animals at 12, you know it’s hard to say what they’ll do to other animals or humans later on in life because something is clearly deeply wrong here,” said Kaitlyn Mitchell, an animal protection lawyer with Animal Justice.
On May 30th, MFNPS in Opaskwayak Cree Nation were made aware of the graphic video; they investigated the allegations and identified the youth in the video.
Although Mitchell hasn’t seen the video, she was gutted to hear about it. She said that although criminal animal cruelty can carry up to five years in prison, this is different.
“But here we’re talking about a child. So the law is a little bit different. And youth who are 12 are not sentenced as adults. So in a case like this, the focus really needs to be on rehabilitating this child, ensuring he knows that this is wrong, and also protecting animals in the future,” said Mitchell.
Mitchell said that it’s hard to say if children being involved with animal cruelty is becoming a more common occurrence, but that violence against dogs specifically is an unfortunate reality.
“In a lot of communities in Manitoba, there’s a lack of access to veterinary care. So you see tremendous overpopulation of dogs, lack of spay and neutering, and then, these large roaming packs of dogs and puppies. So, there certainly are vulnerable populations of animals out there. But, in this case, it seems like something more is going on, of course. Most 12-year-olds don’t see roaming dogs and have this sort of reaction,” said Mitchell.
MFNPS says the boy has been charged with causing animals unnecessary suffering, and was released on conditions for a later court date.
