SPCA: Suspect sought in dog abandonment off Long Island Expressway

Authorities are looking for a male suspect who they say abandoned an Australian shepherd Tuesday night, leaving it behind with no food or water in the dog pen at the Long Island Welcome Center off the Long Island Expressway.

“To do this to an innocent animal, there is absolutely no excuse for it,” said Roy Gross, chief of department with Suffolk County’s Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. “If he didn’t want the dog anymore, all he had to do was put it in a shelter or call the SPCA.”

Video surveillance was taken of the incident shortly before 10 p.m. at the center off Exit 51 in Dix Hills.

In a statement the SPCA said the suspect, wearing a gray hooded sweatshirt and shorts, took two Australian shepherds from a dark-colored vehicle believed to be a Chevrolet Tahoe. Both dogs were on a leash and seen inside the dog pen. The suspect then abandoned one of the dogs with a pink leash around its neck, Gross said.

The abandoned dog is a 5- or 6-year-old male, Gross said. He described the animal as healthy but skittish.

The suspect faces a misdemeanor animal abandonment charge, Gross said.

The SPCA is seeking the public’s help identifying the suspect. Police are trying to enhance the video footage to see if they can make out a license plate of the suspect’s SUV, Gross said.

Tips can be made confidentially to the Suffolk County SPCA at 631-382-7722.