Suffolk SPCA Arrests Man In Connection With Drowned Dog In West Islip

WEST ISLIP, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- The Suffolk County SPCA has announced an arrest in a case of a dog found drowned in a West Islip canal last fall.

Suffolk SPCA Chief Roy Gross said 66-year-old John Shultz, of West Islip, has been charged with felony animal cruelty for allegedly chaining a cinder block around the family dog's neck and throwing her into the canal behind his home.

"The necropsy that we had, which is like an autopsy for animals, was done, found that the dog was alive when it was put in the water," Gross told WCBS 880 on Saturday.

"You can imagine what this dog suffered. Taking an animal alive like that and throwing it into a canal," Gross added. "I can just even try to imagine that the dog trying to swim to the surface and being stopped by being chained to a cinder block."

The dog, described as a 7-year-old female brown and tan-colored Rottweiler mix, was found floating in the canal behind a home on Secatogue Lane East on Sept. 18.

Gross said the discovery was made by a neighbor who wished to remain anonymous. It's estimated the dog was in the water for about a week.

Months of intense investigation by Suffolk County SPCA detectives led to Shultz's arrest, according to Gross.

If convicted, Shultz, faces a maximum sentence of two years in prison. He was being held at Suffolk County Police Third Precinct pending arraignment.