A Monroe family received threatening telephone calls this week after a video apparently showing a Marine throwing a puppy over a cliff in Iraq surfaced on the Internet.

Since it was first posted early this week, the video has become an Internet sensation, gaining widespread attention from news sites, bloggers and animal-rights activists. Hundreds of people have left comments on various Web postings of the video. Some posters have included the Snohomish County home address and telephone number of the alleged puppy-thrower, as well as the names of his family members.

"We learned about the ... video and one of our deputies went to check on the family," said Rebecca Hover, spokeswoman for the Snohomish County Sheriff's Office. "They said they had received threatening phone calls earlier."

The U.S. Marine Corps said it is investigating, but would not confirm the man's identity. In the video, a person off-camera uses the Marine's last name.

The family's telephone number has been disconnected, and a woman at the home declined to speak with a reporter Monday night. Social-networking Web pages, including those on MySpace and Facebook, maintained by the Marine and his family members also have been taken down.

The Sheriff's Office was not able to trace the threatening phone calls, but deputies have been driving by the Monroe home to "keep an eye on things," Hover said.

The homemade video shows a young Marine in uniform apparently picking up a black-and-white puppy by the scruff of its neck, addressing the camera, and then throwing the puppy overhand into a desert ravine. It sounds as if the animal is yelping as it falls.

"The video is shocking and deplorable and is contrary to the high standards we expect of every Marine," the Marine Corps said in a news release.

The Marines are investigating the video, said Linda Yokoyama, an office assistant at the Kaneohe Bay Marine Base in Hawaii.

"It will take a bit of time. Considering we've only known about it for 24 hours, we're moving as fast as we can," she said. "It's been a nightmare. The video is just horrible. Horrible."

Haley Edwards: 206-464-2745 or hedwards@seattletimes.com

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