Cruelty to Animal Charges
Next Court Hearing:
May 31st @ 9:00 am
Suffolk County First District Court
400 Carleton Ave
Central Islip
NOT SURE OF TIME
JUSTICE FOR SOLDIER
Veleda Bailey’s arraignment date has been set for this Thursday, January 26th at the Coholan Courthouse in Central Islip. We will be there starting at 0830 in front of the courthouse. Almost Home discovered on her property
back on November 19th, while doing Training Wheels, one dead chained dog, a nearly dead adult dog and an emaciated momma dog and her three pups. Please come down and join us. Veleda will be showing up early, fingerprinted & photgraphed which takes a few hours.
She will then arraigned so we don’t know
what time the actual arraignment is but we will be starting at 8:30 am, and the doors
open at 9:00 am.
WE NEED JUSTICE
Dogs rescued from a cruelty situation on Saturday, November 19th. We arrived too late for one sadly.
It was a very upsetting day for our outreach team but we are hopeful that justice will be served. This is what we do, rescue isn’t pretty. We cannot continue to help these animals without your support. Please contact us to learn how you can sponsor our outreach program, and learn how your contributions WILL make a difference!
Below is the Article from Rock & Rawhide that joined Almost Home during Training Wheels.
(Letter from Kylie)
Dear Rock & Rawhide Pack, Animal Advocacy and Rescue Community and Animal Lovers At Large: I spent my Saturday with Almost Home Animal Rescue, as part of their community outreach program “Training Wheels”. They do have a small shelter and they rescue animals like other rescues do (I met ahhhmazing dogs for adoption there!!). But they also have this very special program of outreach.
They visit homes on Long Island in some of the saddest neighborhoods, full of poverty, crime, and utter hopelessness, where many of the dogs are chained to trees, or live in pens, outside 24/7/365 in deplorable conditions. It’s freezing cold today, my dogs are literally wrapped up like burritos in blankets. The dogs I met yesterday are shivering, wet, alone, outside, seen as less than trash. And they will be there all winter. While some people are born into absolute poverty and hopelessness…so are these animals. We often joke that our dogs live like royalty. It’s no joke.
As Rock & Rawhide, and I’m sure most members of the public, we see dogs and cats once they’re already in the shelter system, or in foster homes, or at adoption events. We hear awful stories of where the animal used to live and what they endured. I personally had never seen such circumstances face to face. My soul has forever been changed.
Almost Home visits over 600 animals weekly and some monthly, depending on how involved the “owners” (I could never call them pet parents) are with the animal’s care. They provide vet care, spay/neuter, food, straw for dog houses, clean the area the dogs live in, give some snuggles and much-needed love, toys, and they try to educate the people about bringing the dogs inside in bad weather, appropriate living conditions, hoping they would surrender the dog to them, etc. We posted a lot of photos and videos yesterday on the Rock & Rawhide page that I invite you to review, especially considering the aforementioned asks we have made.
Rescue is not easy, and it is not cheap. But it is a necessity in our mission of helping others. We cannot continue to do what we do without people’s support. Almost Home is a 501c3 not for profit organization. volunteers who gave her a chance.
In our journey, which was already intense and emotional for me, we saw a female pittie who clearly had many litters, running along the street. After we fed and saw she was a sweet yet scared girl, and wondered where she was living (obviously worried about her babies too), some kids said she was their dog and pointed out where they lived. She cowered when the kids went to pick her up and they did so by forcefully grabbing her skin mid-back. We see through the side fence there are 3 puppies that are horribly emaciated. The kids tell us they used to have another adult dog but it died last week of starvation…
The lady of the house allowed us inside to bring in food and to have a conversation about the dogs. She admits to not feeding the dogs in at least a week. The lady tells us that the “owner” of the dog has been incarcerated since May and that she is the caretaker now. We then see there is a male dog in the yard, later named Genesis. He is the most emaciated and we were fearful that he wouldn’t even make it through the night, especially considering the cold weather.
We then find the dead body of the other dog…he was STILL CHAINED TO THE TREE. The kids were playing in the yard around him, as if there was nothing at all devastating about the situation. One of the young children giggled when he told me the dog had bugs in his eyes and they ate his eyes away.
We bagged up the dog, I carried him to the car with one of the Almost Home volunteers. This interaction was likely the only time he experienced love. We are hoping for a cremation or burial so at least in death he can be honored. Almost Home named him Soldier.
The authorities were called. We do believe the lady would have handed the dogs over to us anyway, but we fully felt that she needed to be prosecuted for the death of Soldier, and the abuse of the other furry family members. At least she would be in the system. While the police, SPCA and Town of Babylon Animal Control were in the home seizing the dogs, the lady was cooking burgers for her family. She had no care in the world about the dogs, was not worried about having the authorities in her home, did not care that her children were subjected to this, didn’t care about any possible repercussions.
When it was suggested to her that she could go to the local church and get food for her family and the dogs from the food bank there she replied “I already have my Thanksgiving Dinner.” She had no intention or care for feeding the dogs. Without a doubt, if Almost Home hadn’t found the female dog running on the street (later named Dove) the whole family of dogs would have starved to death, and Genesis would have died overnight.
Soldier, still chained to the tree. RIP.
Genesis, emaciated, sick.
Dove with 2 of her babies
The authorities were called. We do believe the lady would have handed the dogs over to us anyway, but we fully felt that she needed to be prosecuted for the death of Soldier, and the abuse of the other furry family members. At least she would be in the system. While the police, SPCA and Town of Babylon Animal Control were in the home seizing the dogs, the lady was cooking burgers for her family. She had no care in the world about the dogs, was not worried about having the authorities in her home, did not care that her children were subjected to this, didn’t care about any possible repercussions.
When it was suggested to her that she could go to the local church and get food for her family and the dogs from the food bank there she replied “I already have my Thanksgiving Dinner.” She had no intention or care for feeding the dogs. Without a doubt, if Almost Home hadn’t found the female dog running on the street (later named Dove) the whole family of dogs would have starved to death, and Genesis would have died overnight.
The dogs are now at the vet; they’ve made it through the night thankfully. Genesis who was in the worst condition has a fight ahead, but we know he will make it.
The SPCA has a LOT of evidence against this lady. We want them to prosecute. But we need pressure. We need people to email (not call – as the phone line is for emergency abuse cases) and demand justice for these dogs. They are famous for not going through with these cases…but we hope we can make this case different.
There was such a feeling of hopelessness and absolutely no pride or life-worth in this part of Long Island. You probably drive past there on your way to the Hamptons or the beach. Across the board, the animals were considered trash by adults and children alike. I felt helpless, as if the cycle of abuse won’t change or lessen. When even the kids don’t care, where is the hope?
My heart has been broken, and I felt such guilt
as I put Snickers in her Monkey sweater this
morning to go for a walk. As I prepared
home-made from scratch doggie breakfast for
my two dogs, I felt a pain in my gut knowing
some of those in Almost Home’s program won’t
even eat today. But with guilt and sadness
can come action. So, I ask you all to please,
reach into your soul and email the SPCA,
Suffolk County, support Almost Home Animal
Rescue and the Babylon Animal Shelter,
consider volunteering with the Almost Home
team, and keep your eyes open to abuse.
I will go hug my dogs a little tighter. I don’t think I’m finished crying from yesterday. I’m sure there’s more of that to come, too.
With love and hope, Kylie xoxox