SPCA offers $2G reward in death of cats thrown from window

Driving on the Southern State Parkway, headed to see his mother, Bill Rizzo said he was shocked to see someone in a car in front of him toss a large brown paper bag out the passenger-side window.

Rizzo, 57, of Queens Village, said he pulled to the shoulder just east of Exit 36, Straight Path, in Wyandanch, to check the bag, which he feared contained a baby. What he found was a dead cat near the bag and a critically injured one not far away.

The Suffolk County SPCA is offering a $2,000 reward for information on what happened and said the person or people involved face felony animal cruelty charges if they're caught.

Rizzo said he saw the bag tossed out the car window Friday at about 11:30 a.m. A technician at All Pets Animal Hospital in West Babylon said Rizzo brought one of the cats to the clinic and said he had left the other cat because it was dead.

The surviving cat, described as a domestic black-and-white shorthair between 2 and 4 years old, died about an hour after being brought in, veterinarian Bob Corona said.

The cat's spine, pelvis and legs were broken and it had respiratory problems, said Corona, 58, of Whitestone.

Michelle Black, a clinic technician at All Pets, said Rizzo was "very distraught" when he brought in the cat.

"You could see [the cat] was all mangled up inside. He was bad," Black said.

"I see a lot of stuff, being in the business," said Black, who is from North Babylon. "But this is the stuff that gets me. To take these animals, put them in a sack or a bag and throw them out with no remorse? If they could do that to an animal, what can they do to a human being? It's a terrible, terrible thing."

Rizzo, who said he is an unemployed Vietnam veteran, said he gave police a partial license plate number and a description of the car, a gold Chevy Malibu with two people inside.

State Police have not been able to confirm what happened to the cats.

Rizzo said he was sickened by the deaths.

"I served in Vietnam. I saw enough," he said. "I think anybody hurts an animal like this should be prosecuted like it was a human they hurt."

Rizzo spoke on the same day the Suffolk County Legislature may vote on a proposal to establish an animal abuser registry.

Modeled on a sex-offender registry, SPCA chief Roy Gross said the animal registry would require convicted animal abusers to be placed on a list for five years. Suffolk pet stores and shelters would be required to check the list to be certain no animal was given to a convicted abuser.

Gross said the law would be the first of its kind in the nation. The proposal has been passed by the legislature's public safety committee.

Gross said the alleged Southern State Parkway cat deaths are exactly what a new law would be designed to prevent.

Anyone with information on the cats' deaths is asked to call the Suffolk County SPCA at 631-382-7722. All calls will be kept confidential.