Tulsa Neighbors Work Together To Report Accused Animal Abuser

A disturbing video captured by neighbors in north Tulsa said they're outraged by how a man in the neighborhood treats his dogs. They said he's been beating his dogs for months, and finally have proof of the abuse.

Animal control is investigating the allegations, after one man confronted his neighbor about what he called abuse, and captured it on camera.

People in the Reservoir Hill neighborhood said the abuse started months ago. Neighbors noticed, left notes asking the dog owner to stop, then, called for help.

"My husband and I made calls to animal control previously," said neighbor Ashleigh Lafon.

Animal control did a welfare check.

"They had to see it in the act. When I called, as long as there was one dwelling to each dog and they didn't actually see the abuse they couldn't do anything," Lafon said.

The word spread up the hill, and on social media. Homeowners tried to shed light and stop, what they call, ongoing abuse.

"Yeah, to know that someone is just being cruel to dogs and beating them for no reason, yeah, that's not good. So now I have to watch out for him," neighbor Gracie Climpson said.

Sunday, when one of the dogs yelped in pain, instead of just watching, they started recording. After witnessing a clearly painful beating, the man behind the camera confronted the dog owner.

Neighbor: "Stop beating those dogs."
Man: "Shut up."
Neighbor: "You shut up."
Man: "This is my house."

What goes on outside of the house, neighbors say, is unacceptable.

"We have a pretty strong community here and there was a lot of outrage once there was evidence of it and everyone actually saw it," Lafon said.

The sign outside of the gate warns the dogs are bad, but they wagged their tails as I knocked on the door to talk to the people who live here; no one answered.

Animal control took several dogs away from the home Monday. They told me they saw the video and are working with the District Attorney to determine if what we saw on the video is considered animal cruelty.