5 dogs neglected, 1 dies Alachua, FL (US) Incident Date: Sunday, Apr 30, 2006 County: Alachua Local Map: available Disposition: Not Charged Person of Interest: Leonard Elleby

Case ID: 9068 Classification: Neglect / Abandonment Animal: dog (non pit-bull) View more cases in FL (US) Login to Watch this Case

A man from Alachua is fighting to keep custody of his dogs after allegations that he neglected them. Animal cruelty investigators say one of the man's five dogs even died from neglect. The four surviving dogs are doing much better according to the employees at Alachua County Animal Services. Officers went to Leonard Elleby's home in Alachua to check on the dogs and according to a sworn complaint found them living without food or drinkable water for days.

Neighbors say they're glad this problem is getting some attention. Whitney Elmore lives several houses away and says the dogs caused her to have many sleepless nights. She says Elleby's dogs barked incessantly around the clock. "It's been very disruptive like I said I've actually had to adapt my lifestyle. My sleeping patterns are off. It's better to sleep during the day," Elmore said.

Elmore went as far as getting earplugs to sleep, but after hearing the allegations of neglect going on at Elleby's home she says she understands why the dogs were probably barking so much. "I was worried they were in distress, but I did not witness anything," said Elmore. But, officers say they did. They allege in late May 2006, they went to Elleby's home after an anonymous complaint and found the dogs had no access to water, food, or shelter. Investigators say they took one of Elleby's dogs covered in maggots from his home to a hospital where it died minutes later. Elleby told WCJB that dog was old and sick, but he says he loves all of his animals and takes care of them.

"If left any other length of time I believe they all probably would've been deceased if we wouldn't have intervened," Investigator Lynn Santerfeit of Alachua County Animal Serivces said.

The county is now taking it a step further and filed this petition to get custody of the four other dogs. There is a court hearing on June 28, 2006 and Elleby says he plans to be there. The State Attorney's Office is also considering whether or not to file a criminal charge of animal cruelty.

Neighborhood Map

For more information about the Interactive Animal Cruelty Maps, see the map notes.

Back to Top

Add this case to:

Del.icio.us

|

Digg

|

Furl

|

References

WCJB News - June 23, 2006

« FL State Animal Cruelty Map

Not sure what these icons mean? Click here.

Note: Classifications and other fields should not be used to determine what specific charges the suspect is facing or was convicted of - they are for research and statistical purposes only. The case report and subsequent updates outline the specific charges. Charges referenced in the original case report may be modified throughout the course of the investigation or trial, so case updates, when available, should always be considered the most accurate reflection of charges.

For more information regarding classifications and usage of this database, please visit the database notes and disclaimer.