CRESTVIEW — Charges may be pending in connection with what appears to be a videotaped attack on Twin Hills Park geese.
In the video, a blonde woman appears to taunt three geese, which Panhandle Animal Welfare Services Director Dee Thompson identified as a Chinese breed.
See video of the woman taunting the geese on our Facebook wall>>
The woman tells the geese, "I'll beat you so hard you won't even know it," while jumping back and forth in front of the animals before, it appears, she kicks one of the geese on the head.
A child is seen briefly in the video, and is heard laughing.
The woman, whose identity police have not confirmed, could face felony animal cruelty with intent charges, Thompson said, but Crestview Police Department spokesman Lt. Andrew Schneider said no charges have been filed.
Police officers are consulting with state wildlife authorities to determine which of several possible charges to file. If the geese are determined to be of a protected species, the charges could be more severe, Schneider said.
If felony animal cruelty with intent charges are filed, the woman faces a maximum of five years in prison and a $5,000 fine.
Because a child was involved in the incident, the state Department of Children and Families should be brought into the investigation, Thompson said.
"Disturbing as it was to see what she did, it was more disturbing to hear the child laughing in the background because that child has seen something that causes it to think that harming an animal is funny," Thompson said.
"This kind of animal cruelty needs to stop," Facebook user Lynn Dwyer said. "They should look at child abuse too since she was teaching her son to do it too."
Contact News Bulletin Staff Writer Brian Hughes at 850-682-6524 or brianh@crestviewbulletin.com. Follow him on Twitter @cnbBrian.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Police: Charges could be severe if geese are protected species (VIDEO)