A Florida woman was arrested on Wednesday after she brought a starved dog to the shelter and said it was a stray, but the microchip showed that the animal belonged to her, deputies said.
Alexandria Drew, 20, brought a 10-month-old border collie named Richter to the Sarasota County Animal Services on Sept. 13 and said that the starved animal was a stray she found, WTSP reports. After checking the microchip, the workers discovered that Drew was the owner and she had adopted the dog in March from the Humane Society of Sarasota County.
WTVT reports Richter weighed 25 pounds when he was adopted but was down to 20 pounds when Drew brought him to Animal Services. Drew told deputies that she kept him in a crate while she was at work and was unable to feed the dog or have him taken to a veterinarian.
"It was very thin. You could see the outline of the rib cage; you could see the bones protruding from its back. It was in bad shape," Lt. Daniel Tutko, with the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office, said. "She continued to try and put blame on someone else as to why the dog was in the shape that it was. If it was left a little longer, the result wouldn't have been good. It probably would have died.”
Deputies said Drew told them she couldn’t afford the $30 surrender fee at the Humane Society, which is why she didn’t take the dog back.
"She was off on Wednesdays. Where she adopted the dog from actually gave away free food to those who couldn't afford it on Wednesdays," Tutko told WTVT.
Drew was arrested on Wednesday and charged with cruelty to animals and confinement without sufficient food.
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