A dog at the center of a viral video of animal cruelty that led to the arrest of three Ponchatoula teenagers is being surrendered to a new home while threats against the teens and their families are under investigation.
On Saturday, the Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff’s Office was made aware of a video that was circulating on social media showing a male abusing a dog on what appeared to be a hunting trip. It was determined this incident occurred in the Manchac area a year-and-a-half ago (early 2023) and that there were three people involved in the video who are all 15 YO boys today. One was arrested on one count of Animal Cruelty; the other two were each arrested on one count of Principal to Animal Cruelty.
Since the day of the arrests, TPSO has been engaged with numerous animal welfare and legal experts as well as partner government agencies for consultation and collaboration regarding potential additional actions pertaining to the welfare of the dog. In that time, the dog has not been in the presence of any of the suspects. However, cooperation from the suspect’s family has led to an agreement to surrender the dog to a new home.
The dog is scheduled to receive a full medical evaluation prior to that rehoming. The Tangipahoa Parish Animal Services office is coordinating the rehoming and no assistance from the public is needed for that process at this time.
In addition, TPSO is actively investigating multiple threats made toward the suspects and their families mostly stemming from outside of our community. The TPSO takes all threats, in all forms, seriously and strongly discourages the public from continuing to spread information or calls to action in a vigilante fashion that threatens the safety of others.
