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Roy Gross

10 of the dogs were confined to a small bedroom. Photo from Suffolk County SPCA

Detectives from the Suffolk County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals charged a Centereach man on Nov. 23 with neglecting to maintain a sanitary environment for his eleven dogs. Roy Gross, Chief of the Suffolk SPCA, said that its Detectives charged Christopher DiGiovanna, 42, with multiple misdemeanor animal cruelty charges, alleging that DiGiovanna failed to provide a habitable living environment to the animals in his residence.

Chief Gross stated that on November 23, 2024 on or about 4:30 PM, members of the Suffolk County SPCA, Suffolk County Police Department, Town of Brookhaven Animal Control and Code Enforcement executed a search warrant on DiGiovanna’s Centereach residence after receiving a complaint about the living conditions causing the animals distress.

Eleven dogs were recovered from the residence, some underweight, filthy, flea ridden, ungroomed, and covered in urine. The air was so noxious with ammonia from urine, feces, mold, and mildew that it stung investigators eyes and throats making it difficult to breathe. Fly excrement and cobwebs covered the interior of the home’s walls and ceilings. Rats scurried about inside the broken out portions of the walls and floors. Ten of the dogs were confined to a small bedroom on urine and feces-soaked sheets with live electrical wires exposed, hypodermic needles, and other drug paraphernalia strewn about.

At least two of the dog’s upon preliminary examination tested presumptive positive for cocaine exposure. The property was deemed unfit for human occupancy by Code Officials. The dogs will be available for adoption to the public upon medical recovery. DiGiovanna was arrested during the search warrant execution on Nov. 23, booked, and held in police custody on two active arrest warrants for unrelated cases.

DiGiovanna is scheduled to appear in First District Court In Central Islip on November 25.

The Suffolk County SPCA remains committed to ensuring the safety and well-being of all animals in the county. If you witness any incident of animal cruelty or neglect in Suffolk County, please contact the Suffolk County SPCA at 631-382-7722.

Photo from Suffolk County SPCA

Detectives from the Suffolk County SPCA charged a Smithtown woman with animal cruelty on Oct. 26 for confining her six dogs inside an unsanitary and rotting old home.

Roy Gross, Chief of the Suffolk County SPCA, said that it’s detectives charged Lisa A. Watt, 55, of Smithtown after a search warrant executed on a Kings Park home on Old Commack Road now deemed unfit for occupancy by code officials.

Six dogs were removed with the assistance of Smithtown Animal control officers from the conditions inside. The walls were covered in grime, filth with black discoloration and spiderwebs. A portion of the first floor dining room ceiling was collapsed into the room, the second floor bedroom had the roof collapsed into the floor where the sky was visible from indoors. The floor was bare wood with the finish scratched off in the traversable portions of the interior where urine and feces were permeated into the wood, the kitchen had four dogs confined to it with feces and urine strewn about and tiles discolored with the same.

The air was noxious and the overwhelming odor of ammonia, rot, urine, and feces was so pungent that it caused officers to cough, gag, and not tolerate long periods of time inside the home. There was no running water or power accessible indoors. A seventh dog found decomposing inside will undergo forensic examination at the Animal Health Diagnostic Center at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY.

After a lengthy investigation charges have been filed. Watt was arrested by detectives on October 26 at 12:20 p.m. in Smithtown at a relatives home. She was charged with six counts of Animal Cruelty and six counts of Neglecting an Impounded Animal and later released from the Suffolk County Police Department Fourth Precinct after being processed by Suffolk County SPCA detectives.

Animal cruelty will not be tolerated in Suffolk County. If you witness any incident of animal cruelty or neglect in Suffolk County please contact the Suffolk County SPCA at (631) 382-7722.

Supervisor Ed Romaine, Highway Superintendent Dan Losquadro and Suffolk SPCA Chief Roy Gross pose with a 32-inch female American alligator turned in on Amnesty Day. Photo from Brookhaven Town

Long Islanders turned in three American alligators and eight turtles at a recent animal amnesty event in Brookhaven Town, and all of the reptiles are shipping up to a Massachusetts sanctuary.

Brookhaven’s Holtsville Ecology Center hosted the event on Oct. 10 to allow residents to turn in any protected, endangered or threatened animals that require special New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service permits without fear of penalties or questioning. It was the second annual event of its kind for the town, which operated with the help of those two agencies and the Suffolk County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

People with dangerous or illegal animals were able to turn them over to professionals, no questions asked.

Suffolk SPCA Chief Roy Gross called the recent amnesty event a success, saying the three alligators turned in “had the potential of ending up endangering the public.”

According to Brookhaven Town, the average length a fully grown female American alligator is a little more than 8 feet, and a fully grown male can be longer than 11 feet. Of the three alligators turned in, two were males, measuring 27 and 29 inches, and one was a 32-inch female.

“People should think twice before acquiring illegal reptiles or mammals,” Gross said in a statement from the town. “They do not make good pets and you are risking fines and possible jail time.”

At last year’s animal amnesty event, people turned in 25 animals, including a western diamondback rattlesnake, a green anaconda, four boa constrictors, an American alligator and two marmosets.

“These animals were turned in before the people harboring them as pets released them into the wild, creating a potentially dangerous situation in our local communities,” Highway Superintendent Dan Losquadro said in a statement about the alligators and turtles turned over this year. “These animals will now receive proper care without posing a threat.”

Owners of potentially dangerous animals have dumped them in public places in the past, creating a public safety issue. In late August, a 25-pound alligator snapping turtle was discovered in a stream of the Nissequogue River opposite the Smithtown Bull on Route 25. The reptile is not indigenous to Long Island — it is a freshwater animal with enough power to bite off a human toe or finger, and is usually found in places from eastern Texas to the Florida panhandle.

“People need to understand that many exotic animals can be very dangerous if not handled properly or allowed to grow to their adult size,” Supervisor Ed Romaine (R) said in a statement. “They are even more threatening if released into the wild, where they could harm people or other animals.”

The dangerous reptile sits on a table at Thursday's press conference. Photo by Victoria Espinoza

By Victoria Espinoza

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water.

A 25-pound alligator snapping turtle was found this past weekend in the stream opposite the Smithtown Bull on Route 25 in Smithtown, with enough power to bite off someone’s finger or toe, officials said.

“We’re just lucky the gentleman who found it knew how to handle it, and knew to contact us,” said Roy Gross, chief of the Suffolk County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. “This reptile is capable of taking toes and part of a foot clean off. People are constantly walking by this area barefoot, including children.”

A father and son, both Suffolk County residents, found the reptile while they were preparing to go kayaking, officials said. Gross said that this freshwater reptile is not indigenous to this area, and is mainly found from eastern Texas to the Florida panhandle.

SPCA Chief Roy Gross handles the alligator snapping turtle on Thursday, Aug. 27. Photo by Victoria Espinoza
SPCA Chief Roy Gross handles the alligator snapping turtle on Thursday, Aug. 27. Photo by Victoria Espinoza

Gross and Dan Losquadro, highway superintendent for Brookhaven Town, both said that this is another example of people dumping reptiles in public places, creating a serious threat and risk to the public.

“This is a dangerous animal. We don’t want animals abandoned. But we don’t want to endanger the public,” Losquadro said.

According to Losquadro, the turtle will be transported to the Holtsville Ecology Center, where it will be given shelter and a veterinarian will make sure it is physically healthy, and identify what gender it is.

The ecology center is a refuge for all abandoned animals. Gross said that over the years there have been many incidents of animals being released to the public, and that someone guilty of this can be faced with multiple charges and prosecuted.

Gross suspected this was originally someone’s pet, but stressed that this is not the kind of pet you want to have.

“I can’t imagine curled up on the couch watching television with this guy,” Gross said.

When transporting the turtle to the SPCA’s office, he said the turtle was able to make a hole in the container he was being kept in, and was trying to escape.

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Three horses reportedly found ‘emaciated and sick’

One of the horses is so sick, its ribs are visible through the skin. Photo from Suffolk SPCA

The Suffolk County SPCA has charged a Hauppauge woman with animal cruelty after her horses were found to be emaciated and sick.

Helen Malazzo. Photo from Suffolk SPCA
Helen Malazzo. Photo from Suffolk SPCA

SPCA Chief Roy Gross said that Helen Malazzo, 61, of Hauppauge, kept three horses at a boarding facility at 193 South St., Manorville, that had no running water on the property. After being examined by a veterinarian, one of the horses was found to be so sick and emaciated that he wasn’t sure it would survive without immediate veterinary care, Gross said. The other two horses were also allegedly neglected. 

Gross also said that the SPCA seized all three horses and they are now in foster care receiving the proper attention. Malazzo returns to First District Court in Central Islip on Oct. 5.

Gross asked the public to help cover the veterinary care for the three horses by making donations to the Suffolk County SPCA. All donations are tax deductible to the extend permitted by law.

An aggressive crocodile was found in an open cardboard box in a Melville parking lot and handed over to officials at the Suffolk County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals on Tuesday, officials said.

The three-foot-long croc, discovered at 25 Melville Park Rd., was “very aggressive and its mouth had to be taped shut,” according to a statement from the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Chief Roy Gross said that Jerry Mosca, the director of the Huntington Town Animal Shelter, and another animal control officer, responded to an anonymous call about the crocodile. Mosca didn’t immediately return a call seeking comment on Tuesday afternoon.

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Police and Suffolk County SPCA investigators will team up to get to the bottom of who left the crocodile in the parking lot, according to the statement.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Suffolk County SPCA at (631) 382-7722. All calls will be kept confidential.