A careless Bronx, New York woman was convicted of animal cruelty for leaving her dog to starve to death.
Cherika Alvarez, 30, abandoned her brown 1-year-old Pit Bull Alizé when she was evicted from her Bronx, New York basement apartment in mid-November 2009.
The malnourished dog ate nothing but razor blades, splintered plastic, wood chips, garbage and ketchup packets for six weeks before he died.
Officials from the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals found the dog lifeless amid piles of garbage and bloody stools in Jan. 2010. The pup’s body had no body fat, and was so emaciated that his remains had to be scraped off the floorboards.
The single mom – who claimed she left some food and water for the dog in the bathtub – testified she had arranged for a neighbor she barely knew to pick up Alizé. But the unidentified stranger never showed.
“I didn’t know him from a hole in the wall,” testified Alvarez. “I didn’t get any information from him. I should have been more smart. Me being irresponsible, I didn’t check up on the dog.”
During a bench trial, Alvarez’s lawyer, Scott Levy, argued she had no idea the dog was left behind.
“She treated that dog like family,” Levy said. “If Ms. Alvarez had known the dog was in the apartment suffering, she would have done something.”
Prosecutors suggested Alvarez had fictionalized her story about making arrangements with a neighbor.
“She left Alizé in that apartment like garbage and she walked away,” said Bronx Assistant District Attorney Megan Mellem.
Judge Robert Sackett decided Alvarez’s behavior amounted to cruelty. She faces up to one year in prison and a $1,000 fine at her Sept. 28 sentencing.
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