Animal lovers across the United States are up in arms after a video of dogs kept in a St. Petersburg, Florida back yard has gone viral.
Local resident Tyler Little recorded videos of his neighbor’s Pit Bulls being tortured with water and firecrackers.
“The dogs are constantly crying. They’re constantly barking,” according to Little. “They need to be out of those cages. They’ve never been on the ground. They’ve been in the chicken coops their whole lives.”
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Little says he also has video proof that his neighbors waterboard the dogs but police aren’t considering that to be enough evidence.
According to Director of Pinellas County Animal Services, Doug Brightwell, the dogs have wooden dog kennels and the videos depict a young boy with a water hose a few feet away hosing the dog.
“We don’t personally or professionally agree with that but it does not violate any of the current statutes or ordinances,” Brightwell shared.
They did investigate and Animal Services found three tethered dogs, which is illegal. They say the man fixed the issue and has been compliant.
Brightwell says the dogs were examined and in good body condition and overall good health.
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Animal lover Jennifer Summer spoke to local media about the situation.
“I saw the video of you spraying your dogs,” Summer screamed from her car while media was in the area filming.
Although Animal Services has not found signs of animal abuse, they say the investigation is not closed.
Partial footage of one video can be seen below. Warning: Yelping can be heard in the video but there are no scenes of obvious abuse.
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636 36th Avenue S Petersburg, FloridaTHE POLICE SAID THERE IS NOTHING THAT CAN BE DONE…boy the police are sounding like a broken record. You can hear the dogs crying in the video!Petersburg Police Dept (727) 893-7780BEATING THE CAGES, THROWING FIRECRACKERS ON THEM, SPRAYING ANIMALS WITH WATER IN THEIR FACES!Per Tyler Matthew…So we have neighbors (South St. Petersburg, Florida) with pit bulls in chicken coops. There’s at least 12 dogs total. They beat the cages, spray water in the dogs face, and we are still trying to catch them on video throwing firecrackers at them to get them to stop barking (which is their last resort and a daily thing they do). They have a large cage in the middle with chairs around it, I can only assume what event they’re watching in there. The neighbor has threatened my roommate, threatened to burn my house down for my neighbors reporting them last time, and worst of all the police and animal control haven’t done anything about it since. I’m out of options at this point. I can’t even enjoy sitting outside or inside because of the constant barking, and these poor dogs crying every day. Something needs to happen to this pos @stpetefl @stpetepd @stpete #puppymill #animalabuse
Posted by The Kris Kelly Foundation on Monday, May 4, 2020
