There is really nothing that could even be considered anything like art in this. Animals can suffer and die in the wild by natural occurences. Does that mean if I dig up a tree and place it in a gallery I could claim it to be art? That would be absurd. A tree is something that occurs naturally, I had nothing to do with any of it, therefore I cannot claim it as my work of art. This whole dying dog nonsense is the same thing, natural occurences, the "artist" did nothing. If he drew a picture of a suffering dog, that would be different, just as it would be different if I drew a picture of the tree. Man, if this had been in America...
Arnie is right about it showing some cultural differences, I think in most modern, well developed countries this would not fly too well.