It's a dramatic video, one that makes your blood boil — if you can stomach the whole thing.
Dogs being held in tiny cages in the sun, ravenously lapping up water when finally given the chance. Some are being held in what look like large sinks with leashes wrapped around their snouts. Employees were banging trashcans against their cages in an apparent attempt to get them to stop barking. One worker jabs a dog with a broomstick.
These dogs were apparently in the care of Inghram's Sit N Stay Dog Academy in Town 'N' Country, presumably left there by families who couldn't take them with on vacation.
On Wednesday, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) released the video, which features numerous instances of what appear to be, at best, callous confinement of dogs left in their care and, at worst, flagrant abuse toward them.
Colin Henstock, an investigation specialist at PETA, said the video was taken over the summer by a PETA staffer who went undercover at the shelter after a tip from a “distraught former customer.”
"It really bore out what we heard," he said of the video.
CL called the facility, and a manager named Dana (who would not give a last name) said that they planned on holding a press conference in which owner Clarke Inghram will address the video at 6 p.m. on Wednesday.
“We're heartbroken over this,” she said, adding that the video does not at all reflect what is going on at Sit N Stay. “The video was edited and manipulated.”
She said the facility has already gotten death threats and a look at their Facebook page shows a number of angry posts.
Henstock said the video speaks for itself.
"A manager is clearly yanking on an injured dog in the video," he said. "Workers are clearly tying dogs' mouths tightly shut. They're clearly poking dogs with brooms who are in crates.”
Plus, he pointed out, this is not Inghram's first brush with bad publicity. In 2009, he came under fire for multiple incidents, the Tampa Bay Times reported then, including employing a controversial training "method" that involves spinning dogs wearing choke chains in the air by their leashes. In 2004, a dog staying with Inghram "died of heatstroke when left outdoors."
"Things happen with dogs," Inghram said, according to the 2009 Times story. "It's like day care."
While PETA has reported the kennel to local authorities, namely Hillsborough County Animal Services, the animal welfare organization hopes the public will take heed when it comes to boarding their pets when they go out of town, or at very least visit prospective facilities and talk with others who have boarded their pets there.
"PETA hopes guardians who entrust their beloved dogs to strangers will watch this video and think carefully about the trust that their animals place in them as well as the trust that they place in others," says PETA Senior Vice President Daphna Nachminovitch. "It shows why the safest place for any dog is with a vouched-for and reliable sitter at home — and why guardians who must board their dogs need to tour the facility, watch training sessions in progress and ask hard questions about its practices."
This article appears in Sep 29 – Oct 7, 2016.