William Willard
A Des Moines man is facing charges for abusing his dog in abuse that was captured on video. Scott Wilson, with the Animal Rescue League of Iowa, says 32-year-old Willard Street was arrested after Des Moines Police were notified about the incident last week.
“A concerned citizen had a security camera and caught, on video, Mr. Street placing a dog in the backseat of his car and then leaning over and with a closed fist, punching the dog repeatedly in the head,” Wilson said. The dog, an adult pit bull, does not have “obvious external injuries,” according to Wilson. ARL staff removed a total of three dogs from Street’s property.
Street is charged with one count of animal neglect and two counts of failure to license a pet. All three dogs are now being cared for by the ARL. According to Wilson, this type of animal abuse is more common in the state than most Iowans probably realize.
“We probably hear about one or two a month – something like this around the state,” Wilson said. “The really scary thing is this was reported because someone did get it on video, so you have to consider there are probably a lot of cases like this that never get reported.”
The ARL of Iowa is urging state lawmakers to pass legislation to strengthen punishments for animal abusers in the state.