Animal shelter worker dumped dog in dumpster in Long Island
SPCA: Animal shelter worker dumped dog in dumpster
December 28, 2013 BY (AskHoffa)
An Islip Town animal shelter employee will be arraigned Saturday on animal cruelty charges for leaving a live dog in a gas station Dumpster, the Suffolk County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals said.
Kennel attendant Michael Papini, 30, of Lindenhurst, was arrested Friday at his home at 15 Green Ave. on felony aggravated animal cruelty, misdemeanor animal abandonment and related charges, the SPCA said.
The severely matted dog, a Lhasa apso, survived. Due to a homeless man and the dogs amazing will to live.
Papini was identified after news outlets aired surveillance footage showing a sport utility vehicle driver dumping a black plastic bag at a USA gas station in West Islip at 7:42 a.m. Monday, SPCA Chief Roy Gross said.
An Animal shelter worker leaving a dog in dumpster. Imagine, that somebody would do that, and that somebody being a worker in an animal shelter makes it that much more disturbing.”
Islip Town officials have been cooperating with the investigation, Gross said.
Whether Papini crossed paths with the dog after it was seen by a veterinarian and transferred to the shelter Thursday was unclear, Gross said.
Another break in the case came when shelter workers found a microchip in the female dog, who is about 11/2 years old, and contacted her owner, Gross said.
The woman told SPCA detectives she knew Papini, Gross said, and when she couldn’t care for her pet, he offered to take the dog to the shelter.
She paid him money, the SPCA chief said, but it’s a mystery why he didn’t keep his end of the deal.
“A dog like that is so easily adoptable,” Gross said. “How could he do that? . . . This is like a planned act of animal cruelty.”
Gross said the woman was upset after seeing the video and declined to release more details about the deal and other charges until the arraignment.
A homeless man rummaging through trash Tuesday morning spotted the animal, authorities said. She had been in a tied-up plastic bag, inside a cardboard carrier with ventilation holes, but she escaped and appeared to have chewed her way out of the bag, Gross said.
The man contacted authorities and police quickly notified the SPCA at 2:10 a.m. Tuesday, more than 18 hours after the dog was dumped, authorities said.
The dog, who’s friendly and in good health, can be seen by the public Saturday for the first time since her ordeal, at the town shelter in Bay Shore, Gross said. About 25 people have already signed up to adopt her, he said.
Lets hope this dog gets a great family, and this excuse for a man gets a job more suitable for his actions. Guilty or not. This man should seek out some assistance.
Michael Papini, 30, was caught on surveillance video taking a large plastic garbage bag out of the back of a vehicle and throwing it into a dumpster behind USA gas station, located at 410 Montauk Highway, on Monday morning, according to the Suffolk County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
Inside that bag was a female 1-year-old Lhasa apso, who was found alive in the dumpster the next morning, the SPCA said.
Papini has been suspended without pay from his job as a kennel attendant at the Islip Animal Shelter in Bay Shore, according to Islip Town spokeswoman Inez Birbiglia.
“The Islip Animal Shelter prides itself on its professional treatment of all pets that come through its doors,” Birbiglia said in a statement. “This troubling incident in no way reflects the loving and caring treatment for all animals from our many dedicated staff and volunteers.”
Papini is charged with felony aggravated animal cruelty, animal abandonment and other related charges. He is being held overnight at the First Precinct and will be arraigned Saturday in First District Court in Central Islip.
The dog was treated at the Veterinary Medical Center of West Islip and is now at the Islip Animal Shelter.
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