FLINT, MI – Genesee County Sheriff Robert Pickell is offering his thanks to a resident who stepped forward to notify law enforcement officials of alleged animal abuse taking place at a Flint home.

Shantae Jones, 41, and Sierra Wright, 31, both of Flint, were arraigned March 10 in Genesee County’s 67th District Court on charges of killing or torturing an animal and burial of dead animals.

Pickell said the sheriff’s office was tipped off to the issue after a witness called the Humane Society of Genesee County after hearing cries from a dog at a home in the 1400 block of Knight Avenue.

“A lot of praise goes to her for ... (bringing) this to the attention of the humane society who reported it to us,” he commented. “She’s really a very courageous woman to do that.”

Two sergeants from the sheriff’s office were sent out to search for the dog and spotted it in the home’s backyard from a neighboring residence.

Part of the alleged abuse was captured in a cell phone video that Pickell detailed in which a person can be seen picking up a dog a by its tail.

A loud banging noise can then be heard several times which Pickell said is a Jack Russell terrier being whipped around in “a baseball motion swing into a wall, on the side of a house,” with the dog heard “whimpering and yelping” during the incident.

He noted the video “is just heart-wrenching” for police to view.

Pickell posted the cell phone video shot from a neighboring home on his Facebook page in a long post regarding the case Tuesday night.

A necropsy showed the dog died after bleeding to death from liver fractures, Pickell said.

Other injuries included spinal fractures, broken ribs and heavy bruising on the shoulders and mouth area.

Two other dogs were removed from the home by Genesee County Animal Control.

“She saved these two dogs’ lives probably,” he said of the witness.

Pickell urged residents to call 911 if they see or know of animal abuse taking place.

The sheriff worked with state Rep. Tommy Brann, R-Wyoming, to have the potential punishment increased from four to 10 years in prison for those found guilty of killing or torturing an animal.

The change goes into effect March 21.

“Dogs in the state of Michigan are treated as property,” said Pickell, hoping this case sheds some light on the needed changes to the law. “Dogs have no rights, animals have no rights as property.”

Wright and Jones are due back in court March 25 for a probable cause conference in front of Judge Nathaniel C. Perry.