Raccoon left in trap for over a day
Neptune, NJ (US)Incident Date: Thursday, Jul 30, 2009
County: Monmouth
Charges: Summary
Disposition: Civil penalty imposed
Alleged: pest control company
A Neptune City pest control company has been cited with animal cruelty after employees left a raccoon in a trap on the roof of a Center Avenue home for more than a day.
No one from Cowleys Pest Control came to check the trap after setting it Thursday, said Victor "Buddy" Amato, police chief of the Monmouth County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. A neighbor heard the animal's cries late Friday afternoon and called the MCSPCA.
"The animal was probably trapped sometime early in the morning, and that means it sat outside in 88-to-90-degree temperatures all day," Amato said. By the time he got a ladder and brought the raccoon down from the roof, he said, "it was dying."
State law required the company to check the trap at least every 24 hours, Amato said. The resident of the home where the raccoon was trapped was unaware of it, Amato said, because a landlord, not the resident, had contacted the pest control company.
Amato said the company, which he said has been cited with cruelty before, will face a fine of more than $1,000.
The raccoon recovered and was released, he said. References |
