Joshua Moore, 22, is charged along with a 13-year-old boy with torturing and abusing puppies, and posting videos of their actions on YouTube. (Credit: Chicago Police)
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UPDATED 03/09/12 12:24 p.m.
CHICAGO (CBS) — A Chicago man and a 13-year-old boy are facing numerous charges after allegedly posting videos of themselves torturing puppies on YouTube.
As WBBM Newsradio’s Mike Krauser reports, police say Joshua Moore, 22, of the Uptown neighborhood, and the younger boy, abused the animals for no reason than their own personal entertainment.
LISTEN: WBBM Newsradio’s Mike Krauser reports
They are now facing a combined 21 counts of animal torture and animal cruelty. The torture counts are felonies.
Both were arrested Thursday.
The videos are no longer available on YouTube, but police say they show the suspects violently spinning the small dogs and puppies and circles on their leashes, then shooting close-ups of their eyes pulsating.
The two are seen tossing terriers and Chihuahuas into the air and allowing them to drop and land hard on the floor. They also force the dogs to eat their own feces.
In one video, they take puppies away from their mother and hide them, leaving the frantic dog looking for them.
Police say the suspects identified themselves by name in the videos, and were also easy to find because of their many distinctive tattoos, the Sun-Times Media Wire reported.
Police from Fort Wayne, Ind., assisted in the investigation, after police found out the 13-year-old boy had gotten on a Greyhound bus that headed there from Chicago, the wire reported.
Ten dogs were also removed from a home in the 200 block of North Lockwood Avenue in the South Austin neighborhood, police said. The dogs were taken into protective custody.
Complaints to People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals led to the arrests.
Police were to discuss the arrests further at 1:30 p.m. Friday at the Chicago Animal Care and Control center, 2741 S. Western Ave., where the dogs were taken.
Moore was also due for a bond hearing Friday.
