Two Charged With Animal Cruelty After Starving Pit Bulls to Death

A police car in an undated file photo. Mira Oberman/AFP/Getty Images

Two people were arrested by New York State Police troopers on Feb. 13 for alleged animal cruelty.

Troopers found two pit bulls starved to death in a vacant home in Fallsburg along with two cats that were emaciated.

The owners of the pets were identified as Miesha Bentley, 28 and Victoriano Moreira, also 28, both of Loch Sheldrake.

“Investigation revealed that Bentley and Moreira agreed to care for the animals after their former owners could not keep the animals because of new apartment regulations. Bentley and Moreira left the residence and left no food or water for the animals. A necropsy of the two pit bulls determined that they died from starvation,” the New York State Police stated.

Arrest warrants were issued for the pair, with each charged with aggravated cruelty to animals, a felony, and failure to provide sustenance, a misdemeanor.

Nebraska Man Arrested for Animal Cruelty

Earlier in February, a Nebraska man was arrested for allegedly allowing two dogs to starve to death.

Mark Langan, vice president of Field Operations for the Nebraska Humane Society, told KPTM that officers served Shane Palmer, 43, with an arrest warrant on Feb. 5.

Firefighters found the bodies of two pit bulls in a ravine in Omaha while putting out a nearby fire.

The dogs appeared to have been thrown down into the ravine and got stuck on a roll of carpet as they slid down.

The dogs were “emaciated, with all ribs hip bones, and vertebrae prominent,” said Kelli Brown, an investigator with the society. A microchip in one of the dogs linked him to a house just feet away from the ravine, where Palmer lived.

A necropsy found that the main cause of death was starvation and the secondary cause was hypothermia.

“We see all types of dogs here at the humane society being involved in situations like this, owners being neglectful, owners leaving their dogs out in bad weather elements and failing to feed and water the dogs,” Lanagan told KMTV.

Any pet owners who want to give away their pets can drop them off at the society’s shelter, he added.

NC Man Sentenced to Jail

In one animal cruelty case, a man was sentenced to jail.

Hiram Renard Goins Jr., 30, was sentenced in January to 60 days in jail and three years of supervised probation, during which time he can’t own a pet, reported the Winston Salem-Journal.

The sentencing came after Goins pleaded guilty to charges after his dog starved to death.

A necropsy found that the dog, a pit bull mix, died from malnutrition, starvation, and exposure to the elements.

The dog was outside and died between Jan. 3 and Jan. 4 when temperatures in Winston-Salem dipped to 12 degrees Fahrenheit.

The death came just days after animal control officers responded to a neighbor’s complaint that Goins was keeping his dogs outside despite freezing temperatures. Officers spoke with Goins and warned him to take better care of his dogs.

The plea deal got Goins’s sentence down. The maximum sentence was 19 months in prison, with a minimum of eight months.

From NTD News