Disturbing video of animal abuse leads to arrest of Cambria Co. man [warning: graphic video]

CAMBRIA COUNTY, Pa. — A Cambria County man was arrested on charges of animal abuse after a neighbor filmed him beating one of two injured dogs.

A horrified neighbor said he contacted police after witnessing the abuse. Warning: the above video is graphic and disturbing.

Matthew Gibala, of South Fork, is accused of abusing the dogs in front of three small children.

“He just starts stomping on the dog’s head, and you can hear it in the video. If you turn up the volume you can actually hear the dog yelping because he is stepping on the poor thing,” neighbor Jesse Gaydos said.

Gaydos said he recorded Gibala kicking the dog, holding it by its hind legs and shaking it violently.

“Honestly, I wanted to beat him up for it because that’s just wrong. You don’t do that to a poor dog,” Gaydos said.

Investigators said they found two dogs inside Gibala’s house and immediately took them to receive veterinary care. Iris, the dog in the video, suffered bruising to its stomach. The other dog had bleeding behind its eye and another injury.

“When you see a video of what is going on with these dogs, it just kills you,” Cambria County humane society executive director Jeannine Gailey.

Gailey said both dogs were adopted by Gibala three weeks ago.

"They do sign a contract whenever they adopt from us that they are to care for these animals forever, and obviously that wasn't happening. So we were able to go back in and reclaim ownership of the dogs,” Gailey said.

Iris the dog is still receiving medical care and the other dog, Sampson, is back at the Cambria County Humane Society.

Gibala faces two misdemeanor counts of animal cruelty and one count of disorderly conduct. He is expected to appear in court on Feb. 20.

WPXI