Sheriff opens animal abuse investigation after video of groomer surfaces
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Genesee County, Michigan (WNEM ) — The Genesee County Sheriff’s Office is investigating after an old video surfaced of a groomer being rough with a dog.
Sheriff Chris Swanson said the video is about six months old and they aren’t sure why it has surfaced or who took the video.
The video shows an unnamed dog groomer handling a dog roughly while on the grooming table.
“It’s beyond rough. It’s aggressive and it’s borderline abusive,” Swanson said.
Swanson said many people have brought the video to his office’s attention and they started an animal abuse investigation into the groomer immediately.
“It’s just like grabbing a child,” he said. “Somebody who can’t protect themselves. It’s disturbing.”
Swanson said they identified the man and brought him in for questioning and the man seems remorseful about what happened.
“The individual is fully cooperating, he’s emotional and shows much sorrow,” Swanson said.
He said the dog in the video is ok.
The groomer even released a Facebook post acknowledging it is him in the video saying he received 12 stitches from the dog. He goes on to say, “The owners sat in the car and told me to finish. Two minutes later I made the dog go home. They wouldn’t let me muzzle it. I was upset. I’m usually known for dogs loving to come see me. I should not have even let it get that far. I made a mistake and apologize.”
“He’s trying to rationalize his decision, he’s trying to justify why he did that,” Swanson said. “And that may be all well and good. But don’t take it out on the actual vulnerable person or animal.”
Swanson says they haven’t gotten any complaints about this place in the past. But that video certainly raises some red flags.
“We’re looking and searching. We want to find out who the owner of the dog was. There’s a lot of stones that are unturned.”
As the investigation unfolds, Swanson wants people to keep in mind you don’t need licensing or certification to be a groomer in Michigan, so do your homework.
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