Springfield police investigate reported baseball bat beating death of dog

MASSACHUSETTS -- Springfield police are looking for a homeowner who reportedly beat a small dog to death with a baseball bat and left it lying on his front lawn.

Police were called to Stapleton Road in Sixteen Acres on Tuesday morning for a report of a man beating a dog. When officers arrived, the man was gone, but the body of the dog was found lying on the front lawn,

According to police, the neighbor heard a yelping on the street.

The neighbor looked out "and saw a guy beating the dog with a baseball bat."

The dog, a small Chihuahua type dog, was found lying dead on the lawn. Police took photos of the body before it was wrapped up in a blanket and carried away by staff with the Thomas J. O'Connor Animal Control Center.

A staff member with the Thomas J. O'Connor Animal Control Center
wraps a dead dog up in a blanket as Springfield police take notes during
an investigation on Stapleton Road. The dog was reportedly beaten to
death by a resident of the street, and police will be seeking charges
of animal cruelty. (PATRICK JOHNSON / THE REPUBLICAN)

Police said they know the identity of the man accused of killing the dog, and plan to pursue charges of animal cruelty against him. The MSPCA will also be notified.

The dog is not believed to be the man's pet.

One neighbor, Nelly Macias, said she has seen the dog running loose in the neighborhood for the last several days. It was usually in the company of another dog, and the two of them would chase and yip after anyone they encountered, she said.

"You couldn't even go to you mailbox, they would try to bite you," she said.

The other day, she had to take off her sandal to shoo them off when they bothered her, she said.

She believed the dog's owner lives up the street, but is not sure exactly where.

Macias said she is certain the dog did not live at the house where it was killed, because that man does not own any dogs.

(MassLive - Nov 11, 2015)