A Brooklyn man was arrested today and charged with intentionally neglecting and starving his dog, a three-year-old pit bull name Drew.
Humane Law Enforcement agents with the ASPCA, who have the legal power to make arrests, charged Leedell Walker, 57, with the alleged animal abuse.
According to the ASPCA, it was Walker who first brought Drew into the ASPCA’s Bergh Memorial Animal Hospital on the Upper East Side on Dec. 27 of last year. Walker claimed that the severely emaciated dog had not been eating, and he relinquished him to the ASPCA.
But Drew was far from just hungry: After an examination, ASPCA veterinarians determine that the pooch was near death, and was anemic and in a critical state of shock.
Upon intake, Drew weighed 37.2 pounds, severely underweight for a pit bull of his size and age. The vets nursed him back to health, and after five months of intensive care, the dog now weighs 65.6 pounds—a 76 percent increase in body weight.
Drew is still recovering at the hospital and will eventually be made available for adoption.
Walker was charged with one count of misdemeanor animal cruelty. If convicted, he faces up to one year in jail and/or a $1,000 fine.
He is due in Kings County Criminal Court on June 11.
