Good grief - that’s horrible! I lived in Italy for three years as a “tween” and never heard of this.
I’m not a witness to it, but again - look it up and feel free to correct me if I’m wrong. There is a statue of a guy hanging his dogs. They were like greyhounds.
Another person who posted here said this happened in Spain. It wasn’t April 1st when I read that.
I remember seeing a short documentary of Italians’ callous behavior toward pet dogs so that’s my experience that made it not too hard to believe.