A Long Island man has been charged with felony animal cruelty after fatally shooting two dogs.
Carlo Lauro, 76, of Riverhead, has been charged with Aggravated Cruelty to Animals and other related charges for allegedly fatally shooting two German Shepherds with a rifle, the Riverhead Local reports.
Cops were reportedly tipped off after a one-year-old German Shepherd, Blitzkrieg, paralyzed with a gunshot wound to the head, was taken to the VCA Westbury Veterinarian Hospital in Westbury. In a report by the New York Post, the incident was followed by the discovery that Lauro had previously killed a six-month-old German Shepherd puppy, Cranky, that had allegedly refused to come back to his home.
The local police have executed a search warrant on Lauro’s property, where they discovered other sick and injured animals “living among the corpses of their friends,” as described by John Di Leonardo, anthrozoologist and executive director of Humane Long Island. Detectives reportedly found five surviving Belgian Malinois/Dutch Shepard mix dogs, a Border Collie and two German Shepard dogs, and other animals, including a goats, pigs, cows, and chickens.
The Humane Long Island has been assisting in getting the rescued farm animals to appropriate foster care.