MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – The company employing a pet groomer accused of viciously kicking a dog in northeast Miami-Dade is responding amid outrage over the actions caught on camera.
A neighbor’s doorbell camera caught the man kicking the little dog not once, but at least twice.
The incident happened about a week ago at the Jade Winds community in the unincorporated Ojus area.
A neighbor, who didn’t want to be identified, said, “A lot of people are outraged… nobody likes animal abuse.”
Even more upsetting, she said, was that the man in the footage was wearing, and even promoting, a mobile pet grooming business, Deluxe Mobile Pet Grooming, based in Hialeah.
No one was willing to speak with Local 10 News when we went by Monday.
The owner has since claimed that the backlash from the incident, along with threatening posts and messages, forced them to shut down their social media pages.
In a statement, the owner apologized and said the company doesn’t permit animal abuse and is “taking serious measures concerning what happened with our employee.”
Miami-Dade Animal Services officials said they opened an investigation immediately upon seeing the footage and found the female Maltese-Shih Tzu mix to be in good physical condition.
Police said the dog’s owner was waiting to file a police report pending a veterinary exam.
As of Monday evening, no charges have been filed.