Dog chained, starved to death - Richmond, VA

Wednesday, Feb 6, 2008

County: Henrico

Charges: Felony CTA
Disposition: Alleged

Alleged: Nicole Deyo

A dog was found on the 300 block of Mansfield Drive in the county's east end. Police say they responded to a call from a neighbor. When animal control officers arrived, they discovered a young pit bull chained to a tree who had crawled into her dog house to die.

A necropsy showed she died of starvation. Police charged the owner, Nicole Deyo, with felony animal cruelty because of the dog's slow, agonizing death.

"There's several levels of animal cruelty and neglect, but this would fall under the cruelty because its so severe to leave the dog out there like that and the way it died was just a horrible death," says Lt. Doug Perry with Henrico Police.

8News spoke with several neighbors. They tell us the dog was a sweet, playful white pit bull that was about a year old. They'd throw her food sometimes, because she was so thin you could see her ribs.

8News also spoke with the woman who reported the dog's death, who asked not to be identified. She tells us she first called animal control last summer, concerned that the dog was not being taken care of.

Henrico Police say when officers arrived, the pit bull had food and water, and did not appear underweight, so at that time, there was nothing officers could do.

But, if you see an animal's condition deteriorating, they urge you to keep calling.

"Don't hesitate to call, that's what we get paid for. We'll go out and check it out and investigate it, maybe we could have saved this dog's life if we'd been able to intervene sooner," says Lt. Perry.

References

• WRIC - Feb 6, 2008

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