New Mexico: Robert Valerio, 32, killed his sister's pet bunny and then handed her its body

NEW MEXICO --  An Albuquerque man has been arrested for allegedly killing his sister’s pet rabbit that she had received as a Christmas gift, according to court records.

Police believe Robert Valerio, 32, killed his 28-year-old sister’s rabbit, and he has been charged with extreme cruelty to animals. He was too drunk for officers to interview him after the alleged crime, according to a criminal complaint.

Police say they were called to a disturbance at the Canoan Apartments near Eubank and Spain NE on Tuesday morning. When they arrived, they found Ashley Valerio sitting with the dead pet.

“Ashley was sitting on the ground with a blanket in front of her and a dead bunny rabbit,” an officer wrote in the complaint.

Ashley Valerio told officers she was sleeping when her brother, Robert Valerio, woke her up.

He told her he’d killed her rabbit and handed her the dead animal that she’d gotten as a Christmas present.

“The rabbit was just a small baby bunny rabbit, gray in color,” the officer wrote.

Ashley Valerio then yelled at Robert Valerio to get out of her home, and he pushed her before the pair exchanged blows, according to the complaint.

Other family members restrained Robert Valerio until police arrived. Officers arrested him but didn’t interview him because he was intoxicated, according to the complaint.

It wasn’t clear from court records if he had an attorney.

His former partner, Carmel Meryman, said she doesn’t know exactly what happened, but she said the allegations are hard for her to believe.

“I honestly find the charge to be quite shocking,” Meryman said. “He’s one of the gentlest people I know toward animals. So I have a hard time believing it.”

After Robert Valerio was arrested and booked into jail on an extreme cruelty to animals charge, the dead rabbit was photographed and taken by the city’s Animal Welfare Department.

The spokeswoman for the Animal Welfare Department, Desiree Cawley, said the animal was sent to a lab for a necropsy – an autopsy performed on an animal.

“I don’t know how the rabbit got involved, it’s very disturbing,” Cawley said. “This may be the first time I’ve ever heard of this happening to a rabbit. I’m still in shock on that myself.”

The crime occurred days just after the FBI announced it has begun collecting statistics specific to animal abuse cases, rather than lumping them in a more general category. Those stats will first be available in 2017.

(Albuquerque Journal - Jan 6, 2016)