Dog beaten to death
Little Falls, NY (US)Incident Date: Friday, Feb 1, 2008
County: Herkimer
Charges: Felony CTA
Disposition: Alleged
Alleged: Shaun Patrick Sullivan
A Little Falls man was remanded to the Herkimer County Correctional Facility after being charged with felony aggravated animal cruelty when he allegedly physically assaulted a dog, causing its death.
Shaun Patrick Sullivan, 28, of 59 Burwell St., was arrested under the New York State Agriculture and Market Law following an investigation by the Little Falls Police Department. He was arraigned by Little Falls City Court Judge Bart Carrig and was remanded to the county jail in lieu of $5,000 cash bail or $10,000 bail bond. Tentatively, he is scheduled to appear in city court on Wednesday, Feb. 20, at 2 p.m., however, according to court officials, his case may be taken to Herkimer County Court.
No further information regarding the incident was available at press time.
If convicted for the animal cruelty charges, Andy Heckel, of Helping Animals Live Organization in Little Falls, said that she hopes to see the defendant punished. "Some one needs to be put in prison for violating these laws," she said, mentioning the recent case of Mark A. Beacraft, arrested in October for animal cruelty involving a cat. His case has been in and out of court since, and is now being considered by county court.
"If someone is convicted for doing something like that, they should be put in prison. There are laws to protect these animals, and if he did that to a dog, who knows what he could do to a person," Heckel said.
Larry Ortleib, of Little Falls-based Community Animal Programs, said, "It's hard to hear about situations like this. We're still dealing with the Beacraft case. I hope he doesn't say it's a psychological problem, because, like [Beacraft], I don't agree with that legal plea. If someone could do that to a dog, will it be a human next time? These cases need to be taken more seriously. I think the court system should be more severe in their punishment in animal cruelty charges."
Ortleib said he has seen more and more cases where behavior involving animal abuse leads to such behavior being directed at humans as well.
Sullivan's attorney, Audrey Dunning of Herkimer, and a representative of the Herkimer County Humane Society were unavailable for comment at press time.
Sullivan was arrested just two weeks ago under infractions of the newly-adopted social host law after he allegedly threw a party at the residence he was staying at, and minors attending the party were served alcoholic beverages.
During that same arrest, he was charged with misdemeanor petit larceny for allegedly stealing a desktop computer. References« NY State Animal Cruelty Map
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