Four legged friends (and enemies): New York: Veleda Bailey pleads guilty to animal cruelty. She starved her six Pit Bull mixes, two of them to death.

Sunday, August 13, 2017

New York: Veleda Bailey pleads guilty to animal cruelty. She starved her six Pit Bull mixes, two of them to death.

NEW YORK -- A Wyandanch woman pleaded guilty to two animal cruelty charges for starving six of her dogs — two of them to death, Suffolk SPCA officials said.

Veleda Bailey pleaded guilty to the two animal cruelty charges, one felony and one misdemeanor for failure to provide proper sustenance, in court on July 19, SPCA Chief Roy Gross said.

Bailey had been charged in November after Suffolk County police, SPCA officials and members of an animal rescue group found one dog, named Soldier, dead and chained to a tree in Bailey’s backyard.

Five of Bailey’s other dogs were found emaciated, prosecutors said at the time. A second dog, which contracted parvovirus and pneumonia, later died.

Gross said it was “very disturbing” when officers responded to the scene of the complaint and saw Bailey barbecuing in her backyard with children present and the deceased dog “in proximity” to where a family gathering was going on.

The children were playing around the dead dog's body and Bailey was clearly planning on feeding everyone right next to the starving and dead dogs. How psychotic is this woman, that she would stand there grilling meat in front of these dogs, which were desperately hungry, and then sit down in front of these skeletal dogs and pig out on hamburgers and hot dogs while they were dying right in front of her eyes???

“That dog was a living creature . . . most of us that have pets consider them family members,” Gross said in a phone interview. “To allow that to happen, to see this total disregard for an animal, is very disturbing.”

Protesters had gathered outside of First District Court in Central Islip in January to decry the woman’s actions while displaying photos of the dead canine.

Suffolk SPCA Capt. Paul Llobell said Bailey had admitted to SPCA officials that she had not fed the dogs in two weeks. A necropsy showed that Soldier had died of starvation.

The four surviving dogs were put up for adoption through Almost Home, the Bohemia-based rescue group that first alerted authorities to the conditions at Bailey’s home.

An attorney who had represented Bailey at her arraignment did not immediately return a call for comment on Saturday afternoon. Information on a possible sentencing date was not immediately available.

“Hopefully this conviction will send a clear message out to anyone that may even think of neglecting or harming an animal that justice will be served,” Gross said.

The SPCA asks that residents call 631-382-7722 if they witness any mistreatment of animals. All callers will remain anonymous.