An Alabama man has been charged in connection with the death of a dog that drowned in the Gulf of Mexico.

WALA-Channel 10 in Mobile reported police arrested 54-year-old Shawn Taulbee of Theodore and charged him with first-degree dog cruelty.

According to police, Taulbee wrapped a makeshift rope around the dog’s neck on the east end beach of Dauphin Island and repeatedly pulled the dog in and out of the water until it drowned. Two witnesses confronted Taulbee and then contacted police, the report said.

Police said Taulbee took the dog the water because it had fleas.