NEW BEDFORD, MASS. (WHDH) - New Bedford police and animal control are investigating after a video showing a person striking a dog with a club began circulating on the internet Wednesday.
Officers responding to reports of cruelty to a dog in the West End took the animal and three puppies to be evaluated by a forensic veterinarian, according to a post on the department’s Facebook page.
Forty-one-year-old Miguel Martinez was charged with animal cruelty.
“I was just in shock,” neighbor Rob Machado said.
Machado heard the whimpering coming from the yard next door Wednesday afternoon.
He told a friend who filed the police report but, hours later, Machado said he could still hear the dog yelping so he began recording.
“It is very difficult to watch. I mean it is very graphic but, you know, it had to be taken care of,” he said. “I know a lot of people tell me they cry when they watch it because it is a very inhumane thing.”
In the video, the young dog can be seen running away from the man who then follows her onto the deck and continues the beating.
Investigators said that the dogs did not show any outward signs of injury.
Neighbors now say they are frustrated with officers who they feel took too long to respond.
“It doesn’t matter what the dog does,” Machado said. “You don’t treat a dog like that. You don’t treat any animal like that.”
The dogs were taken to an Animal Rescue League of Boston shelter.
“For the moment, we are just ensuring that through our shelter medicine services and our shelter programs that these dogs are getting the proper care and love that they need,” Mike Defina of the ARL of Boston said.
The dogs are not up for adoption at this time.
No further information has been released.
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