Reports said some boys tied the animal in a bus shed, built by Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GT&T) for school children at Better Hope on Essequibo Coast, then put dried coconut branches on it, before pouring the fuel with which they started the blaze.

Transformed into struggling torch by the flames and exposed to a heavy downpour of rain during the night, the victim succumbed early Saturday.

The cruel act prompted calls, from public-spirited citizens, for Police investigations and the intervention of Guyana Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (GSPCA).