The woman, who lives in an apartment on Glendale Road, provided a written statement to humane investigators from the SPCA on Thursday afternoon in which she allegedly said she unintentionally cut off the dog’s ears.
She had earlier claimed to have discovered the dog already injured near the 69th Street Terminal in Upper Darby Township.
SPCA officials said they intend to file a complaint with the District Attorney’s office next week seeking charges of misdemeanor animal cruelty. The puppy, since nicknamed Van Gogh, was taken to the Stoney Creek Veterinary Hospital in Ridley Township by the woman, whose name is being withheld because she has not been charged with any crime, last week.
“Things didn’t match up,” said Justine Calgiano, director of community relations for the Delco SPCA, of the woman’s original claims. Humane Investigator Bill Vernon conducted interviews in the area of 69th Street where she claimed to have found the dog and said that the details of her story were inconsistent. He quickly determined that the dog wasn’t found there.
“That’s when Bill and Ron (Riggle) took over the investigation,” Calgiano said of the SPCA’s two investigators.
The woman allegedly changed her story on Thursday, saying that she obtained the dog from a breeder and it was infested with fleas and had scabs all over its body.
“I took him home to clean off the scabs and fleas,” the woman’s statement reads. “I was cutting old scabs off when I cut his ear off. I panicked and cut the other one.”
The statement further reads that she bandaged the dog’s head so the bleeding would stop, and then said she found him “so he could get medical care that I could not afford.”
Van Gogh has been at Stoney Creek since being dropped off by the woman, and is doing well according to Calgiano.
“We’re very happy that he’s there,” Calgiano said. “He’s obviously receiving the best care possible, which is care that we wouldn’t able to provide here at the SPCA. They’re great people over there. We feel really confident that he’s going to do very well over there.”
Van Gogh needed to have additional procedures done to his ears to clean up the ragged cuts that appear to have been made with scissors, Calgiano said. She added that he is also receiving cold laser treatments to ease the pain on his ears and to help his wounds heal.
On Friday, Vernon removed 10 animals from the woman’s apartment, including two Chihuahuas, a German Shepherd, a Beagle-Yorkie mix and a kitten. A turtle, two fish, an iguana and two large exotic birds were also removed. Calgiano said the woman signed over all but two of the animals to the SPCA. The other two don’t belong to her, Calgiano said, so she couldn’t sign them over.
“They all appear to be fed and cared for,” Calgiano said of the removed animals. It did not appear to be a hoarding case, she added.
Once the animals are rehabilitated and spayed or neutered, they will be available for adoption.
Donations for the care of the 10 removed animals can be made online at delcospca.org/donations.
In addition to the animal cruelty charges, Vernon will also request a psychological evaluation for the woman
(Delco Times - Oct 26, 2013)
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