Two former University at Buffalo football players are facing jail time after they allegedly beat a dog using a leather belt over “damage” the animal caused to a couch belonging to one of the players, officials and prosecutors in New York said.
Blake Hiligh, 19, and Zachary Pilarcek, 20, were arraigned in an Amherst Town Court on Thursday and charged with one count of overdriving, torturing and injuring animals with a failure to provide proper sustenance after an investigation linked the two football players to a June 14 incident where a 4-year-old male miniature poodle named “Kobe” was videoed being beaten.
SPCA Chief Communications Officer Gina Lattuca said in a statement that an anonymous email was sent to the organization’s Animal Cruelty Investigations Department just before midnight on June 13 and contained a video of the alleged animal abuse.