Deer Park woman charged after abandoning her dog in street, prosecutors say
Teddy, 9, a Labrador mix, was found on the streets of Syosset Feb. 10, 2015 after his owner, Amavilla Araujo, tried to drop him off at the Babylon Town animal shelter and was told it was full and she'd have to be put on a waiting list, the Nassau district attorney's office said. Credit: Nassau County district attorney
A Deer Park woman with a dog she no longer wanted dumped him on the streets of Nassau after a shelter told her it didn't have any space, the Nassau district attorney's office said Tuesday.
On Wednesday, Teddy, the 9-year-old Labrador mix, who was found Feb. 10 on Terrehans Lane in Syosset, was adopted by a veterinarian, said a spokesman for Acting District Attorney Madeline Singas.
A microchip had led authorities to his owner, Amavilla Araujo, 44, of Deer Park.
Araujo was arraigned Tuesday on a misdemeanor animal crime charge for abandoning him and was released on her own recognizance. The name of her attorney was not immediately available, and Araujo could not be reached Tuesday afternoon.
She told investigators that the Babylon Town animal shelter offered to put her on a waiting list of pets they would take in and she tried unsuccessfully at another shelter, according to the complaint.
She drove to Syosset and dropped him off there because she "knew it was a nice area and she hoped someone would find him," the investigator wrote in the complaint.
A motorist found him and took him to Jericho Animal Hospital, authorities said. A poster with a flyer of Teddy was passed around, authorities said.
"Leaving an unleashed dog to roam free near a roadway is not only a crime, it is dangerous to motorists, to the public and to the animal involved," Singas said in a statement.
Teddy had a foot injury, and a toe had to be amputated, prosecutors said.
