An Ohio woman was captured on camera throwing her dog repeatedly into a cold and stormy Lake Erie, drawing outrage from everyone who saw her actions on social media and local news outlets and sparking an eventual police investigation.
Elijah Boggs, who lives in Vermillion, recorded the video of the heartless dog owner at Showse Park and posted it on YouTube.
It subsequently was brought to the attention of the local Police Department in Vermillion.
Shot using his cell-phone, the 60 second long video shows a woman dressed in a red shirt and black slacks standing on a dock at Tiki Beach. A small dog on a leash is by his side.
After the woman rolls up her pant legs, she forces the dog by pulling him on the leash to the jetty’s edge before pushing him into the choppy lake waters.
After a few seconds, the dog is able to scramble out of the chilly water but he is soaking wet.
His owner grabs him again against his will and pulls him again toward the lake water.
An angry Boggs asks the woman exactly what she thinks she is doing and she calmly tells him that she is teaching her dog to swim.
Boggs replies by telling her that water conditions in the lake are too rough for such an activity but the woman refuses to pay any attention, throwing the dog into the lake for a second time.
After the woman attempts a third throw of the dog into the water, Boggs threatens to report her to police.
Boggs reports that the water temperature of the lake at the time of the incident was 59 degrees.
Although he was able to report the woman’s inhumane activity to police, he reports they did nothing.
After Bogg’s video report went viral, however, the Vermillion Police Department thought it best to open an investigation, asking for help from the public in identifying the woman who repeatedly threw her defenseless dog into Lake Erie.
After police were able to identify their suspect, they asked the prosecutor’s office to review everything for further action.
Police eventually refused to consider any of the dog’s owners activities as malicious, contending they conferred with both Animal Protective League officers as well as a veterinarian as part of their investigation.
No further action has been taken by the police department in Vermillion, with a dispatcher telling local station WKYC that the dog appeared to be unharmed by his harrowing experience in the lake.
