Wanted: Dog's abuser $2,500 Reward

Wanted: Dog's abuser

Wednesday, October 18, 2006
By BRIAN SPADORA
HERALD NEWS


PATERSON, NJ -- Someone poured a scalding liquid on a small, white dog
causing third-degree burns.

Turning that person in could be worth $2,500.


Paterson Animal Control was notified Sunday that a bichon frise mix with a
badly burned lower back was walking

around North Eighth Street and Temple Street, Chief Animal Control Officer
John DeCando said Tuesday.

The dog was brought to Blue Cross Dog & Cat, the city's veterinarian, where
Dr. Paul Sova Jr. determined that

someone had poured some kind of chemical on the animal several days earlier.
The male dog, who was dubbed Snowy by

staff members at Blue Cross, was given antibiotics and his wound was
cleaned. He will need extensive skin grafting

because so much time went by between when he was injured and when he was
treated.


Because the abuse was extreme, the Humane Society of the United States
agreed to DeCando's request to put up a

$2,500 reward for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the
person or persons who hurt the dog.


The city is paying for the few hundred dollars in treatment that Snowy is
receiving at Blue Cross, DeCando said.

START 2 of Bergen County, an animal care group in Elmwood Park, will cover
the thousands of dollars worth of skin

grafting that Snowy will need over the next few months. There were no other
signs that the dog had been mistreated,

Sova said.

"He's probably been in a household somewhere. He's not a street dog," he
said.

DeCando said Snowy was wearing a flea collar when he was found -- another
indication that he was a house pet.

That the dog probably has an owner led DeCando to two possible conclusions,
neither of them pleasant. The first was

that the dog's owner was responsible for the raw, red burn that covers his
back above his tail. The other

possibility was that Snowy was burned while he was missing, but that the
owner never bothered to call animal control

to find him. "If you're missing a child, you call the cops and make a
report," DeCando said. "The right thing to do (in this

case) is call animal control." As DeCando spoke, Snowy leaned on his lap
and licked the officer's face.


The person who burned the dog could face two animal cruelty charges, one for
inflicting unnecessary pain and one for

torture, DeCando said. Each count could carry a six-month jail sentence
and/or a $1,000 fine, he said.


START 2 of Bergen County will cover the thousands of dollars worth of skin
grafting needed by Snowy. The group is

holding a Tricky Tray fundraiser Nov. 2 at the Cotillion in Garfield. For
more information or to make a donation,

call 201-843-8968. To make a donation via PayPal log onto:
http://tinyurl.com/y2pu33

https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/websc...harset=UTF%2d8


Anyone with information about the incident may call the Paterson Animal
Shelter at 973-881-3640.

Reach Brian Spadora at 973-569-7132 or .


Original story: http://tinyurl.com/yj94r4

http://www.bergenrecord.com/page.php...VFeXk3MDA3MDUy


Story with photographs:
http://maxshouse.com/urgent_matters/...tory-print.htm