A Lafayette pet-grooming business is claiming conspiracy after the owner and an employee were issued misdemeanor summonses for animal abuse stemming from an undercover video.
This screen shot from a YouTube video
purportedly shows a groomer at Pampered
Paws in Lafayette yanking a dog by its mane.
[Update: KATC, the station that originally reported this story, had a follow-up in which it was revealed that the hidden-camera video shot inside the business was shot by one of the owner's daughters who tells the station she was upset by what she believed was animal cruelty happening there. The unidentified daughter left the employ of Pampered Paws last December. The owner of the business maintains her innocence and insists the video was manipulated and is taken out of context.]
A Lafayette pet-grooming business is claiming conspiracy after the owner and an employee were issued misdemeanor summonses for animal abuse stemming from an undercover video (the image at left links to YouTube).
A local TV station is reporting that Animal Control officers began investigating Pampered Paws after receiving calls from people who saw on YouTube what appears to be hidden-camera video from inside the "pet salon" showing groomers being abusive toward small dogs - in one instance punching a pooch in the chin to get it to raise its head and in another yanking a dog by its mane to move it on a grooming table.
Pampered Paws owner Michelle Jeanmard issued a statement to the station claiming the video was doctored and created by two people trying to destroy the business, and Jeanmard vowed to have a video editor demonstrate how the video was altered. Jeanmard further claims the pair behind the video have been investigated by police for making threats against the company's families and homes.
"This is just the latest attempt to slander and destroy an ex out of jaded spite and hurt feelings. All pets serviced here are treated in a manner that respects them, the pet owners, and keeps the groomers safe," the statement adds.