Massachusetts woman charged with animal cruelty for emaciated dog, misleading investigator
Brooke, a 3-year-old Golden Retriever-mix, was found extremely emaciated. (Credit: MSPCA-Angell)
BOSTON - A Massachusetts woman is charged with two counts of animal cruelty after a shelter took in a dog found to be "extremely emaciated" back in January.
Mary Sellitto, 29, will be arraigned later this month, according to authorities. She's also charged with intentionally misleading an investigator, which is considered a felony.
The Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals said Brooke, a 3-year-old Golden Retriever-mix, was brought to the Angell Animal Medical Center. Another dog, who was found to be severely underweight at Selitto's home, was also brought to the hospital in early February.
"This dog was in bad shape when she [Brooke] came to us," Mike Keiley, vice president of the MSPCA-Angell’s Animal Protection Division, said in a news release. "On a scale of one to nine, with one being extremely emaciated and nine being obese, she had a body condition score of one."
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"She [Brooke] weighed about 10 pounds, when really she should weigh at least 20," he elaborated. "We put her on a defined refeeding program, and she’s been stabilizing since."
The MSPCA said both dogs were brought back to good health and have been placed in homes.
"It’s always hard to see loving animals like Brooke suffer so much," Keiley added. "We want to know how it got to this point, and we need people’s help to do that."
This story was reported from Los Angeles.