CONVICTED: Was justice served?
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Case #4468 Rating: 3.7 out of 5
Dog abandoned in home
Trenton, NJ (US)Incident Date: Wednesday, Mar 9, 2005
County: Mercer
Disposition: Convicted
Defendant/Suspect: Carrie D. Ross
The owner of a dog abandoned for three weeks without food or water was fined $1,033 in municipal court on April 26, 2005 and ordered to pay $339 to the city for the starving animal's care.
The defendant, Carrie Ross, 49, was convicted of one count of cruelty, according to Eric Maldonado, manager of the city animal shelter.
The emaciated dog -- its bones showing through its skin -- was found abandoned March 9 after Ross moved out of her home at 514 Pennington Ave.
Animal control agents found the food and water bowls in the back yard pen of White Dogempty and overturned.
A heavy chain grating on the dog's neck had turned its white hair gray.
When the sad but friendly 2½-year-old mixed pit bull was brought to the Trenton Animal Shelter, she weighed only 31 pounds.
Severe cachexia [weakened condition] was observed," wrote veterinarian Anthony E. Russo is his report. "The dog was emaciated with almost all bones visible. The nails were severely overgrown. Ears were filled with dark, waxy debris."
"On March 10 at approximately 3:30 p.m.," reported officer Jose Munox, "I contacted Mr. [Sam] Kupferstein [of Lakewood], the landlord, and asked him how long the tenants at 514 Pennington Ave. had been out of the property and abandoned the dog. (He) stated that Ms. Ross had been evicted for approximately three weeks."
Ross now lives at the Laurel Notch Motel in Bordentown, according to municipal court papers.
She was charged with two counts of cruelty, one of abandoning a domestic animal, owning an unlicensed dog, and owning a dog with no inoculation for rabies.
Maldonado said the latter four charges were dropped during Tuesday's trial after Ross was found guilty of the first cruelty charge by municipal court judge Evin McGrory.
Maldanado said Ross told the court the dog was sick, and no matter what they fed it, it would not gain weight.
"We proved to her that it wasn't (sick)," he said. "We started feeding it on a daily basis. It weighed 31 pounds, but within three weeks it gained five pounds. Now it weighs 45 pounds. There were no signs of any kind of sickness on the dog. It's just that it was not being fed.
"You could tell the dog wasn't being fed for a long time; there was no food, no water in the bowls, nothing."
"We had the video pictures of before and after, so she was found guilty."
Maldonado said he's outraged.
"I want to show the people of Trenton this cannot be done," he said. "If you leave your animal behind, we will find you and we will prosecute you."
He said, "White Dog is friendly, has been cleaned up, and she's ready to go."
Anyone who wants to adopt the dog can call the shelter at 609-989-3254. References« NJ State Animal Cruelty Map
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