Maine: Sarah Vye, charged with animal cruelty after dumping dog at shelter and driving off. Dog died after being hit by car.

MAINE -- A woman accused of abandoning a dog outside the Greater Androscoggin Humane Society last month has been charged with animal cruelty.

Lewiston police said Sarah Vye, of Auburn, was given a summons to appear in court in April.

Security cameras showed a vehicle pulling up to the front of the humane society building just after it closed on Monday, Jan. 25. The person in the vehicle then left the dog and drove off.

The dog can then be seen in the video coming back to the building.

 

The dog was found three days later near the offramp on a bridge. It had been hit and killed by a car.

A woman, who claimed to be Vye, but who was not named, spoke to radio station 107.5 FRANK FM on Jan. 29. She said she is a single mother with three children and said she turned herself in to Lewiston police.

She said she got the dog from her ex-boyfriend's wife in August.

 

The woman told the radio station that she had contacted Auburn police about the animal, but she said nothing was done.

She also claimed that she abandoned the dog to die in the middle of the night to "protect her children".

Officials from the shelter said the dog's name was Abby. They have set up a memorial fund in her honor.

(WMTW - Feb 25, 2016)