Dog-Lovers Even More Angry Now That ‘Oreo’ Is Dead
By Ryan Thompson
Brooklyn Daily Eagle
and Cristian Salazar
Associated Press
JAY STREET — The Red Hook man who beat his 1-year-old pit bull and then threw her off a rooftop this summer is expected to be sentenced Tuesday in Kings County Supreme Court.
In October, Fabian Henderson, 20, pled guilty to the top count in the indictment — aggravated cruelty to animals. Tuesday, Justice Cassandra M. Mullen could sentence Henderson to one to four years in prison for the class-E felony crime.
The case recently captured headlines around the city and region as animal-rights activists and dog-lovers cried out for the dog’s life to be spared. But the young pit bull mix named “Oreo,” who survived being thrown off the sixth-floor rooftop, was declared unfit to live because of her aggressive behavior, her caretakers said. She was euthanized last month.
Oreo suffered two broken legs and a fractured rib when she was beaten and thrown off the roof of a Red Hook public housing project in June. After months of working to rehabilitate her, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals determined that she was unpredictably aggressive, and could never live among humans or other dogs.
On June 18, Henderson’s neighbors at the West Ninth Street housing project had called the ASPCA to report a dog was being beaten inside an apartment. Minutes later, neighbors found the injured female pit bull lying on the ground outside the building.
Oreo was taken to the Veterinary Emergency & Referral Group animal hospital on Warren Street in Boerum Hill where she underwent surgery.
The Kings County District Attorney’s Office said the pit bull suffered multiple fractures in her two front legs, severe ligament damage, bruised lungs, a fractured rib, liver injury and internal bleeding. Joseph Pentangelo of the ASPCA said surgeons had to reassemble Oreo’s front legs.
The plight of Oreo stirred emotions among animal lovers, and the ASPCA’s decision to euthanize her led many to flood the organization with hundreds of calls, e-mails and Twitter messages.
“We’re saddened by the outcome,” said ASPCA spokesman Andy Izquierdo after the organization announced Oreo’s death. “But we truly feel it’s the most humane decision for Oreo.”
Earlier, Izquierdo said the agency had received well over 200 calls and e-mail messages, as well as at least two death threats.
“People don’t know the behavioral piece,” Izquierdo said. “We could fix her physically, but we couldn’t do anything with her psychologically.”
Protesters rallied outside the building on the morning before she was euthanized. And at least one pet sanctuary offered to take in the dog.
“The aggression thing is a dumb excuse because all dogs can be worked with,” said Emily Danks, a self-described animal rescuer who said she was escorted out of the ASPCA’s building on the Upper East Side after trying to convince staff members to let her take Oreo.
She said she had planned to take the dog to Pets Alive, a sanctuary in Middletown, New York, north of New York City.
Matt DeAngelis, executive director of Pets Alive, said his organization had left phone messages for the ASPCA with an offer to take in Oreo. But he said they had not heard anything, and he was perplexed at why the ASPCA didn’t accept the group’s offer.
In an e-mail, Stephen Zawistowski, one of the ASPCA’s lead animal behavior experts who had worked with Oreo, said the organization didn’t believe that sanctuary placement was “good for her welfare.”
“We made this decision having the experience of working with a number of well-known sanctuaries and rescue groups,” he said, adding that the ASPCA was unfamiliar with Pets Alive.
Henderson, who was also charged with trespassing, and torturing and injuring animals, is due in Brooklyn Criminal Court on Friday, as well, on an unrelated disorderly conduct charge from September 2009.
Questions? Comments?
Sound off to the Editor
————————
© Brooklyn Daily Eagle 2009
All materials posted on BrooklynEagle.com are protected by United States copyright law.
Just a reminder, though -- It’s not considered polite to paste the entire story on your blog. Most blogs post a summary or the first paragraph,( 40 words) then post a link to the rest of the story. That helps increase click-throughs for everyone, and minimizes copyright issues. So please keep posting, but not the entire article. arturc at att.net
