More than 25 concerned citizens attended the arraignment Thursday of Ashley Pritchard in Town of Lockport court on a felony charge of aggravated cruelty to animals.
Pritchard appeared before Justice Cheryl Antkowiak, received a continuance for a pre-trial conference on Feb. 20, and was released on her own recognizance, according to Niagara District Attorney Brian Seaman’s office. Court proceedings were conducted in a whisper, preventing the public from hearing what was said.
Pritchard and a court officer were followed out of court by more than a dozen people wearing light blue T-shirts printed with, “No Excuse For Animal Abuse # Justice for Eve.” From across the parking lot, some yelled angry statements, including “Put you in a (expletive) cage!” The Niagara SPCA’s Facebook page posted that they would provide the shirts at the courthouse, and reminded attendees that it should be a peaceful gathering.
The case against Pritchard, concerning her emaciated young chihuahua Cleo who died in Niagara SPCA custody, has gained attention across Niagara County. The chihuahua was found loose along Ruhlmann Road on Dec. 24 and was picked up by the Niagara SPCA and renamed Eve. The dog died the next day in the SPCA’s care.
Amy Lewis, executive director of the Niagara SPCA, which investigated the case, said there had been no reports of concern for the dog prior to Dec. 24, and the pet was seldom seen in the neighborhood. She said the SPCA determined that Pritchard did not own other pets.
In custody, the dog weighed 4.8 pounds, was dehydrated and hypothermic, with a temperature of 91.9 degrees F. Estimated to be approximately 1 year old, the chihuahua should have weighed about 12 pounds, Lewis said, with a normal body temperature of 102.1 degrees F. The dog was unlicensed and there were no records of her seeing a veterinarian or groomer, so there was no history of her birthdate and previous weight. The New York Department of Agriculture and Markets requires that all dogs 4 months and older be licensed.
Lewis said that during the December investigation, community members told the SPCA that the dog was walked in October and appeared thin. Neighbors commented that they had often heard barking in previous months, but not in December. Lewis said the dog’s intense urine smell when found suggested that she had been caged.
Lewis said that in her 12 years with the SPCA, this was the first chihuahua found in conditions of starvation. “There was a lot of suffering that occurred under the name Cleo,” she said.
Because of the Christmas holiday, the chihuahua needed to be cared for in a foster setting, which Lewis provided herself until the pet’s death. She said she gave Eve warm fluids and a heating pad, and her temperature rose to 96 F. Blood tests could not be taken because of the dog’s extreme dehydration, she added.
Despite this care, the dog died Christmas Day.
“I would think, based on the dog’s level of dehydration, that it had probably been a week since she had food or water,” Lewis said. “There may have been sporadic feeding over prior weeks, but the dog didn’t have any food in her intestines during autopsy.”
The SPCA has received a number of memorial donations in the pet’s honor, Lewis said.