Updated story
A Chicago woman arrested Thursday is accused of hurling her boyfriend's puppies into a pond behind her Northwest Side home and drowning them.
Forty-five year-old Francis Blake of the 3500 block of North Narragansett Avenue was charged Thursday with aggravated animal cruelty and animal torture. According to police data, officers responded to the yard of the Portage Park home on July 3 around 11:30 p.m.
A neighbor told officers she saw Blake "tossing four helpless two-day old puppies into a pond," and retrieved their bodies from the water the next day, according to the Tribune.
Acting on a search warrant, police reportedly found seven other dogs with various signs of abuse and neglect. A man who the Tribune says identified himself as Blake's boyfriend told officers she killed his puppies. The remaining animals were removed from the home and taken into care.
According to a report last year by the Animal Legal Defense Fund, Illinois ranks as having the best animal protection laws in the nation.
Blake was charged with four felony counts of aggravated cruelty to animals, four felony counts of animal torture, seven misdemeanor counts of cruelty to animals, and 11 misdemeanor counts of violation of animal owner duties, the Sun-Times reports according to police.
Blake is expected in bond court Friday.
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