A Torrington man was charged with two counts of animal cruelty Tuesday evening after police said he burned one dog with boiling water and caused the death of a second dog.

Nathan Mosimann, 22, 42 Deruyter Drive, was released Tueday evening after he posted a $20,000 bond. His arrest marked the second time city police filed animal cruelty charges in the past week: Police announced July 1 that they had charged Jeffrey A. Dunlap, 46, 334 Goshen Road, after an investigator learned he hit his dog on the head with a mallet and shot it with a pellet gun.

Police said they were first alerted to Mosimann’s case on April 27, after one of Mosimann’s family members told police that Mosimann may have caused the death of his beagle Carly, who died at Mosimann’s home that day. Police were told that Carly was “lying on the floor, unable to get up and suffering a bloody mouth after Mosimann was with the dog,” Lt. Mike Emanuel said in a statement.

The dog was treated that day at a veterinarian for an ear infection and was told the dog had recently run away, but Emanuel said no x-rays were performed because of the cost. The dog died later that day.

An autopsy performed on the animal showed it had sufered a fractured skull and neck, which police say was caused by Mosimann. Police did not release details of how they believe Mosimann caused the injury.

During the course of the investigation, police learned Mosimann was suspected in the burning of another dog, named Teddy. Police said family members told them that Mosimann was home alone with Teddy and dropped boiling water on the dog, causing burns to 45 percent of its body.

Mosimann claimed the burning, which took place about eight months before Carly died, was an accident but did not report the burning for several days. It was unclear in the news release police provided whether Teddy was owned by Mosimann.

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A.6287b was introduced by Assemblyman Joseph Lentol, D-Brooklyn, and S. 3926a was introduced by Sen. Toby Stavisky, D-Flushing. These bills would provide misdemeanor penalties for spectators at these organized events. Presently, offenders can receive only a traffic ticket-style citation, which does not provide an adequate deterrent against chronic violators.

Spectators who attend animal fights do not stumble upon them accidentally. These criminal activities take place at clandestine locations.

“We commend Sen. Stavisky, and Assemblyman Lentol for championing these anti-crime bills,” said Patrick Kwan, New York state director for The Humane Society of the United States. “Now that the legislation passed in the Senate, we look forward to its passage in the Assembly.”

Facts:

Animal fighting spectators, with their admission fees and gambling wagers, fuel these undeniably cruel and criminal industries. Under current law, dogfighters or cockfighters can claim they were only present at an animal fight as spectators, thereby avoiding any meaningful punishment.
Law enforcement officials have documented a strong connection between animal fighting operations and narcotics distribution, illegal firearms and other illicit activities.
While dogfighting and cockfighting are felonies in New York, possessing animals for the purpose of fighting is only a misdemeanor, and attending an animal fight is just a traffic-ticket style violation.
New York has the nation’s fifth-weakest dogfighting laws, making it a magnet for spectators from surrounding states where penalties on spectators are significantly more severe.
According to news reports, in June 2008, authorities raided a Bronx, N.Y., building that housed a dogfighting ring. Seven people were arrested and two additional suspects fled from the scene during the raid. Of the seven who were arrested, four were New Jersey residents. New Jersey is currently ranked as having the nation’s strongest dogfighting law, punishing spectators with three to five years of imprisonment and/or a maximum $15,000 fine.

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An Aylmer woman and her two grown children are in custody after police raided their home and found the bodies on nearly four dozen cats and dogs buried in the backyard.

The threesome — a woman in her 60s and her daughter and son, both described as in their 40s — have been charged with cruelty to animals, Gatineau police said Tuesday.

Executing a search warrant, police, accompanied by Gatineau firefighters and animal control staff, arrived at the family’s home at 22 Roméo-Gendron Street, between Front Street and Eardley Road. at 10 a.m. In the backyard, they uncovered the buried remains of 43 cats and dogs in garbage bags. Another cat and a dog were found alive inside the house.

Neighbors said police and animal control officers were wearing respirators and protective clothing when they entered the house. They expressed relief that authorities had acted after months of complaints. The house, they said, has been the scene of similar raids in the past, including one about two months ago in which numerous animals — “birds, ferrets, dogs, you name it,” as one neighbour put it — were taken away.

Neighbors said they regularly saw people dropping animals off at the house, and speculated that those who did so were looking for a quick way to get rid of unwanted pets without realizing what may await the animals.

Police did not release the names of those arrested, but said they were familiar with the family and had been to the house numerous times in the past.

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The nation’s first criminal dog-fighting DNA database has been established by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA), The Humane Society of Missouri (HSMO) and the Louisiana SPCA (LA/SPCA), and will be maintained at the University of California, Davis (UC Davis) Veterinary Genetics Laboratory.  Known as the Canine CODIS (Combined DNA Index System), the database is designed to help the criminal justice system investigate and prosecute dog fighting cases and address the growing problem of dog fighting using 21st century technology.

“Dog fighting is a multi-million dollar criminal enterprise that leads to the cruel treatment and deaths of thousands of dogs nationwide every year,” said Tim Rickey, the ASPCA’s Senior Director of Field Investigation and Response. “This database is an unprecedented and vital component in the fight against animal cruelty and will allow us to strengthen cases against animal abusers and seek justice for their victims.”

Rickey, the former Animal Cruelty Task Force Director at HSMO, Kathryn Destreza, the ASPCA’s Southeast Regional Director, Field Investigation and Response and formerly Director of Humane Law Enforcement for the Louisiana SPCA, and Dr. Melinda Merck, the ASPCA’s Senior Director of Veterinary Forensic Sciences and the nation’s premier forensic veterinarian, collaborated to create the database, working with Dr. Randall Lockwood, the ASPCA’s Senior Vice President of Anti-Cruelty Initiatives and Training.

“This database will connect investigations across the country and internationally, creating multi-jurisdictional collaboration,” said Ms. Destreza, who presented on the Canine CODIS at the recent Veterinary Forensics Conference in Orlando, Fla. “It’s another tool we can use toward the elimination of dog fighting.”

Dr. Merck, who testifies as a forensic veterinary expert for animal cruelty cases around the country, added, “Juries expect forensic science to support the evidence that’s presented to them, and animal cruelty cases are no exception. This database breaks new ground in supplying that evidence for dog fighting investigations.”

The Canine CODIS contains individual DNA profiles from dogs that have been seized during dog-fighting investigations and from unidentified samples collected at suspected dog-fighting venues. The HSMO provided the 400 original and initial samples of dog DNA collected from dogs that were seized last July during the nation’s largest dog-fighting seizure ever, a multi-state raid led by Mr. Rickey that followed an 18-month investigation by federal and state agencies.

The database is similar to the FBI’s human CODIS, a computerized archive that stores DNA profiles from criminal offenders and crime scenes and is used in criminal and missing person investigations. DNA analysis and matching through the database will help law enforcement agencies to identify relationships between dogs, enabling investigators to establish connections between breeders, trainers, and dog-fight operators. Blood collected from dog fighting sites will also be searched against the Canine CODIS database to identify the source.

“The Veterinary Genetics Laboratory has one of the largest sample databases in the world,” said Beth Wictum, Director of the Forensics Unit of the Veterinary Genetics Laboratory in UC Davis’ School of Veterinary Medicine. “This is important for estimating the rarity of a DNA profile. The Canine CODIS database is unique because it includes many more DNA markers than are normally tested, and that provides greater power when calculating match probability or assigning parentage.”

“When these cases come to trial, it’s important to make your strongest case,” she adds. “DNA evidence not only establishes links between owners, breeders, and dog fighting sites, it tells a story. We can tie blood spatter on pit walls and clothing, or blood trails found outside of the pit, to a specific dog and tell his story for him. We become the voice for those victims.”

How the Canine CODIS Database Works

DNA samples from animals have been used in forensics investigations for over 15 years to help solve criminal investigations. In some cases, the animal may be related to the suspect, the victim or the crime scene.  In other cases, the animal itself is the victim or perpetrator.

In dog-fighting investigations, the dogs’ inner cheeks are swabbed to collect DNA in their saliva at the time they are seized.  These swab samples are then submitted to UC Davis Veterinary Genetics Laboratory for DNA testing. Law enforcement agencies also collect DNA at suspected dog-fighting venues in samples of blood, saliva, tissue, bones, teeth, feces and urine. These unidentified DNA samples can be submitted to the laboratory at UC Davis for analysis and archiving in the database.

When an agency submits a sample to the Veterinary Genetics Laboratory, the DNA is analyzed and the Canine CODIS database is then searched for corresponding DNA profiles. In the event the database search locates a match for the submitted DNA, the lab will notify both the agency that submitted the new sample and the agency that submitted the existing sample.  The Canine CODIS database is only available to law enforcement agencies; analysis is part of the cost of testing.

Dog Fighting Statistics

Although there are no official statistics, the ASPCA estimates that there are tens of thousands of people involved in dog fighting in the United States. Dog fighting is a federal crime, as well as a felony offense in all 50 U.S. states. For more information, visit http://www.aspcapro.org/dog-fighting-faq.php.

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A $3,500 reward is being offered for information leading to the conviction of the person or persons responsible for the hanging death of a dog at a Philadelphia playground in the early morning hours of Tuesday, June 15, 2010.
A female, one-year-old, brown, pit-bull mix was found by a Humane Law Enforcement officer hanging from playground equipment at the Barrett Playground, at 8th and Duncannon Sts. in Philadelphia, PA 19120. The time of death is estimated to be in the early morning hours of Tuesday, June 15, 2010.

An investigation is underway, but the Pennsylvania SPCA needs the public’s help in gathering information about what happened to this dog.

Anyone with information should call the Pennsylvania SPCA’s toll-free, 24-hour cruelty hotline at 866.601.7722.

The initial $1,000 reward was increased after the Humane Society of the United States offered an additional $2,500 in reward money.

The staff here at the Pennsylvania SPCA has named the deceased dog Flora. If you would like to make a donation in her memory, or to find out how you can help other abused and neglected animals, please e-mail development@pspca.org.

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