Up to $5,000 Reward Offered to Ensure Safety of Dog Seen Abused in Surveillance Video
For Immediate Release:
April 22, 2024
Contact:
Nicole Perreira 202-483-7382
PETA is offering a reward of up to $5,000 to ensure the safety of a small dog or puppy, tan with white paws and a white snout, who was seen on video being kicked and beaten by a man later arrested and identified as Joseph Michael Sanders. On April 7, he was caught on surveillance footage carrying the dog near Brookhurst Street and La Palma Avenue, then kicking the animal out of view of the cameras. The dog could be heard screaming and yelping off camera as Sanders apparently continued to beat him or her. Sanders was booked on felony cruelty-to-animals charges on Thursday, but the dog’s whereabouts remain unknown.
“This little dog is surely traumatized and terrified and may be seriously injured,” says PETA Senior Vice President Colleen O’Brien. “PETA asks anyone with information to come forward immediately so this dog can get the care he or she urgently needs.”
Anyone with information about the case or the dog’s whereabouts should call the Anaheim Police Department at 714-765-1900.
PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on X, Facebook, or Instagram.