Dog abuse caught on camera in Glendale neighborhood

GLENDALE, AZ (AZFamily) — Residents of a Glendale neighborhood are very sad and upset after they say animal abuse was caught on camera in broad daylight near 67th Avenue and Bethany Home Road on Tuesday.

Jessica Suarez says she was working from home that morning when she heard a dog screeching. She thought a car may have hit it, so she ran outside but saw nothing. That’s when she checked her security camera footage and saw something she described as heartless and cruel.

Warning: There are graphic details ahead.

“I see the guy just grabbing the dog and hitting him,” Suarez said. “It was horrible.”

Suarez’s home security camera captured what appeared to be a dog running loose. The camera then shows someone running up to the dog, yelling and hitting it.

“I cannot imagine anybody having such hate in their heart,” she said.

Suarez says she quickly ran outside and even drove around the neighborhood to find the person in the video but didn’t see anyone. Arizona’s Family also walked around the neighborhood Tuesday afternoon to try to find this person.

“Sad. Concerned. Helpless,” Suarez said.

She called authorities this morning, but there was an issue.

“She [the operator] said, unfortunately if I don’t have an address, there’s not much that they would be able to do,” Suarez said.

Police departments can transfer these calls to the Arizona Humane Society, which has 12 investigators throughout the Valley. However, they say they cannot do much unless the person calling knows the individual or where they live.

“We are also frustrated. But without a suspect, neither us nor the police can do any type of follow-up unless we have something to go off of. Like I said, a name, a known address, license plate maybe from a vehicle that can be checked, but without suspect information, there isn’t anything we can do,” Tracey Miiller, the director of field operations with the Arizona Humane Society, said.

She says if provided an address, they could follow up and send an investigator to the area to make contact, find out what was happening, and check to see if the animal has any injuries.

“Our ultimate goal always is justice for the animals,” Miiller said.

The Arizona Humane Society said on Wednesday a cruelty investigator went with police and seized the dog from the home.

The pet is on a confiscate hold.

Sadly, the Humane Society responded to more than 10,700 animal abuse calls last year, an increase from 2023. Miiller says these cases are very hard because, with little information, there isn’t much authorities can act on.

“I just honestly hope that we’re able to get him or track this person down so that animal can stop suffering,” Suarez said.

Last year, Arizona’s Family reported on Senate Bill 1047, which aimed to protect more pets by strengthening the state’s current animal cruelty laws. Although the bill did not pass, the sponsor says lawmakers plan to introduce something similar this year.

Arizona’s Family reached out to Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell, who was very outspoken about her support for this bill. Her office says it will continue supporting any bill to strengthen animal cruelty laws.

See a spelling or grammatical error in our story? Please click here to report it.

Do you have a photo or video of a breaking news story? Send it to us here with a brief description.