A Gulf Shores community service officer is on administrative leave after witnesses said he abused two small dogs who were running loose in a restaurant parking lot.

In a release, the Gulf Shores Police Department said it was reviewing the complaints, which came from multiple witnesses to the incident in the parking lot of the Original Oyster House on Gulf Shores Parkway Wednesday afternoon.

“The Gulf Shores Police Department has been made aware of a situation which occurred today concerning the conduct of one of our Community Service Officers while on an animal complaint,” police said in the release.

Witnesses said the officer used a slip collar on the two dogs and was “dragging and strangling” the dogs, according to Rebecca Ruling, who said she was with the dogs for 30 minutes before the officer arrived.

“Multiple people yelled out to him to get him to stop, but he proceed(ed) to choke them and ignored all of us,” Ruling wrote under the GSPD Facebook post about the incident.

Gulf Shores police said the officer’s supervisor was notified as soon as they were alerted to the complaints. The incident is being investigated internally.

“We appreciate our partnership with the members of this community who brought this matter to our attention knowing we would address it appropriately,” the release read.

The GSPD would later update the post to note the owner of the two dogs had been located.