VENICE, Fla. -- A Florida pet groomer is under investigation by the Sarasota County Sheriff's Office after a recent video of alleged animal abuse surfaced on social media.
The video taken by former Happy Puppy Pet Spa employee Briana Brady, shows another employee putting both hands around a dog's neck and laying it down on the table, leaving Brady to label the action as animal abuse.
Brady first witnessed the alleged abuse when another dog left the salon with a broken jaw.
“The dog was picked up by the throat, choked, shaken and then his head slammed on the table,” Brady said describing the video.
The viral Facebook video has over 250,000 views. Brady worked at the Spa for four weeks prior to posting the video on social media.
“It was very hard for me to witness any of that happening," Brady said through tears.
The woman in the video who owns the spa, Phyliis Lucca has a different perspective. She claims that her actions weren't abuse, but instead necessary steps for the dog's overall health.
"If you see the video, I know it looks bad, but that’s not what I’m doing," Lucca explained. “What the dog did was pass out and she faints and what I did was hold her head and shake her. That’s all.”
Two weeks prior to the video going public, a puppy named Pumpkin left the spa with a broken jaw and bruises all over his stomach.
Lucca claims that Brady was the one responsible.
"The only one that was in the room alone, with the dog, was Briana.”
However, both Brady and Pumpkin's owner, says they believe Lucca was the only one who could've have harmed the dog. The Spa owner hopes to move forward and survive the blow to her business.
“If I get through this, I won't have another groomer in the store because nobody can be trusted now.”
Brady and Pumpkin's owner say they will be pressing charges against Lucca.
