Gracie, one of the dogs SPCA rescued from the apartment of Shannon Delag, below
On March 6, SPCA Westchester announced that their Humane Law Enforcement Unit (HLE), under the direction of Ernest Lungaro, arrested and charged Shannon Deleg (33) of Peekskill, NY with three counts of animal cruelty.
The SPCA’s HLE Unit visited Ms. Deleg’s apartment after receiving a tip on the SPCA’s confidential animal cruelty hotline regarding a dog in distress. Upon arrival, they discovered an emaciated pit bull curled up in a ball whose ribs and spine were clearly visible. The dog, now known as Gracie, is skin and bones, weighing just 27 lbs. when a dog her size should weigh nearly double that.
During the investigation, the SPCA’s HLE Officers found two more emaciated mixed breed dogs in the apartment. Both were locked inside a filthy, cramped cage and forced to live in thick layers of urine and feces. All three dogs were so malnourished and dehydrated that they were immediately seized and rushed to SPCA Westchester’s Rescue Center for emergency care.
“These poor dogs likely cried and begged for food and it’s heartbreaking that their pleas were ignored,” says Shannon Laukhuf, SPCA Westchester’s Chief Executive Officer. “We are so thankful that a Good Samaritan called the SPCA’s cruelty hotline before they were starved to death.”
If you witness or suspect an animal is being neglected or abused, please call the SPCA’s confidential animal cruelty hotline at (914) 941-7797.
