Follow up: DeWitt County Sheriff’s Office wrapping up investigation in alleged dog abuse video

Posted on August 7, 2018
After a video surfaced on social media of an alleged dog abuse, DeWitt County Sheriff Jared Shofner said an investigation is wrapping up. (DeWitt County Sheriff’s Office)

By Blake Haas

DEWITT COUNTY – After a video surfaced on social media showing an alleged dog abuse, an investigation is wrapping up leading to possible charges in the next 24 hours.

The video shows a disgruntled dog owner allegedly throwing a Husky to the ground and screaming at the dog to stop. The owner then allegedly holds the dog by its mouth and hits it, before shoving the dog into its cage.

“We are just finishing up a couple of interviews that should help resolve the questions to whether or not this is a case of animal abuse or not or if it is prosecutable,” said DeWitt County Sheriff Jered Shofner. “We are working with the (DeWitt County) States Attorney’s office to make sure that they move forward in the charges if there are charges. At this point we expect to have our investigation concluded probably within the next 24 hours and then we will have the States Attorney review the findings from there.”

Shofner added that the investigation is looking into what happened before and after the 44 second video was made.

A recent post to social media showed a dog owner allegedly hitting a Husky, the video has since been taken down.

 

“We are trying to identify everyone involved at this point. The video was posted from an anonymous source, we believe that we have depicted the person in the video, however we still need to identify any other witnesses that may have seen what happened before or after the short snippet of video,” said Shofner. “(We want to) have a total picture of what happened.”

Once the investigation concludes, the DeWitt County States Attorney will be handed the case and will decide the appropriate actions.

“The thing we have to realize is that the States Attorney has the ultimate authority on what happens with the case. Once we complete the investigation it will be handed over to their office for review and at that point they will make a decision on where to go forward,” added Shofner.

DeWitt County Sheriffs Office added that the dog depicted in the video is no longer in the care of the woman depicted in the video.

The video has since been deleted from social media.

The DeWitt County Animal Shelter declined to comment.

Blake Haas can be reached at [email protected].

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