A Pennsylvania woman faces animal cruelty charges after she tortured and killed a chicken, pigeon, rabbit and frogs for views on her YouTube channel, where she had more than 20,000 subscribers, according to local authorities.
Last week, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) tipped off the Upper Darby Police Department (UDPD) about a social media "content creator" who lived in the area and was posting videos of herself torturing and killing animals on YouTube.
Anigar Monsee, 28, of Upper Darby Township, Pennsylvania, was arrested Friday on three counts of cruelty to animals, according to local media reports. Monsee is being held on $200,000 bond at the Delaware County prison as she awaits a February 5 preliminary hearing.
PETA contacted police on Friday after the nonprofit was alerted to graphic videos posted on YouTube by an account called Motheranddaughter that showed animal mutilation and torture, UDPD Superintendent Timothy Bernhardt told local outlet Delco Times.
The YouTube channel had at least four videos where live animals were harmed as a "scantily-clad woman" tortured rabbits, chickens, frogs and pigeons by slowly scalding, disemboweling and mutilating the animals while they were still alive before they were eventually killed and cooked, according to the criminal complaint obtained by the Delco Times.
The Motheranddaughter account, which has posted 238 videos in total, was still active as of Wednesday night when viewed by Newsweek.
The account was removed from the video streaming platform the following day.
YouTube Spokesperson Javier Hernandez told Newsweek via email on Thursday afternoon that "content that is violent or abusive toward animals is not allowed on YouTube, and we have terminated the channel in question."
Newsweek reached out via email on Wednesday night to UDPD and PETA for comment. It was unclear at the time of publication whether Monsee had retained an attorney who could speak on her behalf.
"It's just barbaric. It's inhumane that someone could do that," Bernhardt said in a statement to the Delco Times. "She's going to answer to all four of the incidents. Detectives looked into it and charged her. Hopefully it will send a message that this is cruelty."
The police superintendent said what was even more disturbing was "the fact that you are soliciting and people are encouraging this."
UDPD investigators questioned Monsee on Friday, when she identified herself as the woman in the videos.
A video called "Cooking lucky" that was posted on the channel recently shows a woman, identified as Monsee in the court documents, with a live chicken in a sink.
Monsee repeatedly remarked on the number of views and likes while soliciting more before she harmed the bird. For about 10 minutes, she forcefully handles the struggling and frantic animal and is seen plucking feathers from its neck before she starts chopping at the bird's throat with knives, the criminal complaint states. As the chicken tries to flee and jumps out of the sink, Monsee then gets on the counter and holds the bird down with her feet as she continues slicing its neck, according to the court documents.
In a video called "cook with Ani (cooking frogs and fufu)" that was posted in September 2023, Monsee is shown with three live frogs before she begins to carve open one's stomach and remove the organs.
She can be heard saying that the frog is still alive, and that it was "dancing."
Monsee then did the same to the other two frogs, who were also alive. She can be seen singing to the third frog, "Happy death day" to the tune of "Happy Birthday."
In a February 2023 video, called "Cooking Peter (Rabbit)," Monsee says she couldn't kill the live white rabbit herself, so she called a man whom she identifies as her "friend" to do the deed. Monsee is heard saying "I love you" and "Mommy's going to miss you" to the live and conscious rabbit before the man is seen slashing the animal's neck. The rabbit thrashes around and jumps out of the sink while bleeding before it dies.
Each of the graphic clips has amassed thousands of views and dozens of comments on each.
Update 1/27/24, 11:30 p.m. ET: This article has been updated with comment from Hernandez.
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Maura Zurick is the Newsweek Weekend Night Editor based in Cleveland, Ohio. Her focus is reporting on U.S. national news ... Read more
