Puppy starves while locked in cage in empty apartment for nearly a month, NC cops say
A puppy was found starved to death locked in a cage in an empty North Carolina apartment, police say.
The two men who lived in the Spring Lake apartment had moved out in early December but left the puppy there and never came back, police told WTVD.
The puppy, which was between 12 and 16 weeks old, was left locked in the cage without food or water for nearly a month, according to WNCN.
It wasn’t until the unit was being inspected on Dec. 27 that the lab mix was found dead, WRAL reports.
Veterinarians say the puppy died of dehydration and starvation and had been dead for 18 to 48 hours before it was found, WTVD reports. It only weighed 7 pounds.
The dog’s owner, 21-year-old Demareo Jones, was arrested Monday and charged with abandonment of an animal, according to Cumberland County jail records.
The other man who lived in the apartment, 21-year-old Sha’Ron Rogers, is also charged but has not been arrested, police told WNCN.
Both men reportedly knew the puppy was still in the apartment, but neither went to check on it and told police they were too busy to see if the other had retrieved it, WTVD reports.
Spring Lake is near Fayetteville and about 70 miles from Raleigh.
