A Staten Island man has been indicted for allegedly neglecting and starving 24 huskies who lived in squalor — leaving one puppy dead, officials said Wednesday.
Victor Quinteros, 54, pleaded not guilty Wednesday to dozens of charges of criminal mischief, failing to provide proper sustenance, and torturing the dogs, according to the Staten Island District Attorney’s office.
Quinteros was arrested on July 29 after a raid of an empty lot in Tompkinsville. A day earlier it was revealed that the canines – including sixteen adults, seven puppies, and one dead puppy – were living inside and under two trailers or were roaming around the fenced-in property.
The trailers were hot, had little airflow and were rancid from urine and feces, the complaint claims.
Inside one of the trailers holding as many as 20 huskies, there was “feces caking the floor and all surfaces within the trailer where a dog could stand, sit or lie down,” the complaint claims.
There was also no food or water inside and when the animals were let out they ran around in search of nourishment.
Their only source of water on the property was a kiddy pool filled with “dirty, green and foul-smelling water” that the dogs were drinking and bathing in, the complaint says.
And the only source of food was “rotting and appeared to have maggots crawling in it,” the complaint claims.
The dogs “appeared to be malnourished, with matted fur and paws caked with urine and feces.” There was also a dog named Zeus, “chained to a fence” without food or water, whose neck was “bleeding and oozing pus” from the chain.
A mother was found under the trailer with a litter of puppies including one dead pup.
Quinteros told officials when they arrived at the property that “I run an animal rescue here,” the complaint claims.
At the court hearing Wednesday, Quinteros – through his lawyer – rejected a prosecutor’s request to have the dogs fixed, provided with dental care and given microchips, according to a report by the Staten Island Advance.
NYC man starved, neglected 24 huskies in ‘feces’ covered property, killed puppy: officials
A Staten Island man has been indicted for allegedly neglecting and allowing 24 huskies to live in such squalor that one puppy died, officials said.
nypost.com
We the tax payers are paying for this piece of shit's defense.
The Legal Aid Society, which is representing Quinteros in the case, did not immediately return a request for comment.
Warning deceased puppy