Posted: September 11, 2009, 5 a.m. EDT
Gerard Butler, the actor who’s filming “The Bounty” with Jennifer Aniston in New York City, has been accused of striking a Greyhound in Queens, N.Y.
Retired banker Fred Varecka told Radar Online that Butler hit his dog Mayfly after Butler’s unleashed Pug went over to check out Varecka’s two dogs.
“My dog crashed into a fence before yelping in pain,” Varecka claims. “I asked him: ‘What did you hit my dog for?’ But he just kept ranting and raving that our dog should be put down – it was unbelievable because the dogs never came into contact at any time.”
But another person at the scene alleges to People that one of the Greyhounds “attacked Gerry’s Pug. Gerry had to physically get in the middle of the two of them to protect the little dog. And then he quickly put a leash on his dog. As far as I know, they are exaggerating; Gerry is an animal lover and simply separated the dogs.
“Gerry is not going to respond to this because he knows he didn’t do anything wrong,” the source says. “He’s devastated that these people are saying these things, he would never hurt another animal.”
A representative for Butler told People that “a larger Greyhound repeatedly attacked Gerard’s small Pug, so he separated them to protect both dogs.”
Varecka told Radar Online that he filed a complaint with local police, though an NYPD spokesman said Butler would not be interviewed or sent a ticket because it was not an offense that could result in arrest.