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Case ID: 17429

Classification: Neglect / Abandonment

Animal: dog (pit-bull)

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Emaciated dog found in basement
Pittsburgh, PA (US)

Incident Date: Wednesday, Feb 16, 2011
County: Allegheny

Charges: Summary
Disposition: Civil penalty imposed
Case Images: 2 files available

Abuser names unreleased

Three adults and three children were sent to the hospital Wednesday morning because of an apparent carbon monoxide leak in their home in Pittsburgh's Sheraden neighborhood.

Also, a dog that a veterinarian described as "skin and bones" was found in the basement of the house and was sickened from the gas.

Emergency crews were called to the 3000 block of Huxley Street just after 1 a.m. and contacted city firefighters and Equitable Gas for a carbon monoxide leak inside the home.

Channel 4 Action News' Bob Mayo reported that potentially deadly levels of the colorless, odorless gas were detected inside the home.

Mayo reported that the adults called for help when the children, who are ages 1, 3 and 5, became ill.

The six people in the home were taken to the hospital. Their conditions have not been released. However, a woman who lives in the home told Mayo that everyone is expected to be OK.

Police told Mayo that an emaciated 1-year-old dog was found in the basement and was removed from the premises and taken to an emergency clinic.

Bob Gosser, of the Western Pennsylvania Humane Society, said the homeowner told him that the dog "probably got the worst of the carbon monoxide" when it was in the basement.

"We have the malnourishment, the unsanitary conditions in the basement and the carbon monoxide," said Gosser. "I did go down in the basement and there is a fair amount of feces on the floor. It's a cement floor, dry. I saw one bag of food that was sort of chewed up. I mean, there's no food down there."

Gosser said the homeowner told him that her teenage son was primarily responsible for feeding and giving the dog water, but had not been home recently after going into a placement program.

"She admitted financial constraints, lack of dog food; they were trying to get away feeding it table scraps and people food," Gosser said. "She admitted that she should have had better oversight over her son and/or feed the dog better herself while the son was out of the household."

The woman, who told Gosser she was the head of the household, would not respond to Channel 4 Action News' request for comment.

"I explained to her that the Humane Society is an open door shelter. If she couldn't afford to feed (the dog), she should have brought it over to our shelter," Gosser told Mayo.

Gosser said the owner signed the dog over to the Humane Society and will be cited with a summary offense of animal neglect but is not accused of any willful cruelty.

"The prognosis is good. It is expected to recover from any of the carbon monoxide that it breathed in. It was described by the vet as 'skin and bones' and emaciated, but again, the prognosis is good. There's always the outside chance that something can happen along the way," Gosser said.

Two years ago, a different family of tenants at the same home was hospitalized because of carbon monoxide sickness.

References

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