SUFFOLK COUNTY, N.Y. – An employee of a facility training guide dogs is facing criminal charges for leaving one of the animals in a hot car for hours, causing its death.
Investigators with the Suffolk County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals announced the charges against Jodi Meyers in a news release. Meyers is charged with animal cruelty and failing to provide proper shelter and aid for Milton, a 3-year-old black Labrador retriever.
Milton was at the Guide Dog Foundation, where Meyers is employed, to get additional training. His owner, Michelle Krupa, has a rare genetic disease that affects her vision and hearing, and said in July that Milton had been learning to sit still in a classroom, as we reported at the time.
Guide dog dies after being left in hot car for hours
SPCA investigators said that Meyers had taken the dog out for training, but instead left the dog in a crate inside a van for 5 1/2 hours when the temperature outside was approximately 90 degrees.
In a statement to WPIX in July, the Guide Dog Foundation said: “The Guide Dog Foundation offers Michelle and her family our full support if and when Michelle is ready to be matched with a successor dog. … The Guide Dog Foundation has been taking immediate steps to review this tragic event to mitigate the potential of this ever happening again.”
