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Article Archive > Animal cruelty cases not rare, officials say Animal cruelty cases not rare, officials say When Anthony Appolonia was indicted on May 6, Monmouth County prosecutors accused him of systematically torturing and killing 19 kittens and cats. It followed the arrest of an Ocean County couple after police said they found 64 animal carcasses in their former Barnegat home. May brought another shock when a Middletown man was charged with luring three baby geese from their parents and then beating them to death in a wooded area near his apartment. The sudden sequence of events spotlighted offenses that often go unnoticed, police, prosecutors and animal rights activists said. The more violent incidents also have raised questions about who commits such crimes and why. Although there hasn't been an upsurge in animal abuse, these cases underscore the horrible deaths that some animals suffer, investigators for the New Jersey State Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals said. Appolonia, 50, of Aberdeen has been accused of torturing 19 cats and kittens before killing them during a six-week period last year. In some cases, investigators said he threw kittens against a wall and let them crawl about injured before drowning them. "That was the worst case of animal cruelty I have ever investigated," said Victor "Buddy" Amato, chief of police for the Monmouth County SPCA. "He actually answered ads from people looking to give kittens a good home and then took these little animals, broke their bones, let them suffer and then drowned them." Appolonia faces as much as five years in prison for each of the 19 cruelty charges, Monmouth County Prosecutor Luis A. Valentin said. In Ocean County, investigators said they discovered at least 64 animal carcasses abandoned in a house formerly owned by Matthew and Amanda Teymant, officials said. Investigators said they suspect it was a case of animal hoarding. The remains were identified as those of dogs, cats, gerbils and turtles, police said at the time. Appolonia remains in the Monmouth County Jail, his bail set at $105,000, records show. The Teymants, have each been freed after posting $25,000 bail, records show. The Teymants' cases are still pending grand jury action, Ocean County prosecutors said. These are the extreme cases, said Sgt. Thomas Yanisko, an animal cruelty investigator for the state SPCA. "They're the cases that attract attention, but they're not the majority of the work we do," he said. "Animal cruelty covers a lot of ground. From these heinous cases to people who just leave a dog chained outside without water or shelter. It's the sensational cases that get the public's attention, but fortunately, they're relatively rare." Animal cruelty, however, is not, authorities said. Monmouth County handles about 100 animal cruelty cases each month, about five of those will result in criminal charges, Amato said. In Ocean County there's about 50 cases each month, said Yanisko, who also covers calls in Burlington County for the state SPCA. Those numbers may only scratch the surface, animal rights activists said. Amato was inclined to agree. "We know about the cases we get called on," he said. In most instances investigators are able to correct the situations by talking to the animal owners. "A lot of times people just don't realize what they're doing wrong," Yanisko said. "People leave a dog out all day without shelter and he starts to get fly bites. The flies start to draw blood and then they're relentless. That's a type of cruelty that often goes unnoticed." Animal hoarders, like the Ocean County couple are alleged to be, are often people who kill with kindness, Yanisko said. "They take these animals in and intend to care for them. Then the time involved and the costs overtake them. Their intent is pure, but with a large number of animals, they can't keep the place clean. They run into sanitary issues and that causes respiratory problems for the animals. Pretty soon they're in over their heads and the animals start dying," he said. But what about those who intentionally kill animals? "Very often you're dealing with a sociopathic personality," said Dr. Peter Harris, chairman of the psychiatry department at Jersey Shore University Medical Center. "These are people who look to exercise a sadistic control over the animal." That antisocial personality disorder might also be a harbinger of bigger crimes to come, Harris said. "In youngsters we often see a triad of bed-wetting, arson and animal abuse that can be an indicator of more serious crimes to follow," Harris said. In many studies, those traits were observed in people that went on to be serial killers, he said. "These are extreme cases and it's all about power and control," Harris said. "The person derives a certain satisfaction out of seducing this little animal, winning its confidence and then killing it." Stress can also result in animal cruelty, Harris said. "If you have a person that already has anger control issues, a bad day at work can lead to a kick-the-dog-type incident," he said. "It's similar to the personality that commits a domestic violence act when they're upset." Offering pets up for adoption can also be an unwitting pathway to abuse, said Kristen DeJournett, an animal cruelty case worker for the Norfolk, Va. based People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or PETA. It can attract people seeking bait to train fighting dogs, she said. "We tell people to never put ads offering to give animals free to a good home. You really don't know who you're giving them to," she said. PETA has assisted law officers in a number of investigations where people who have answered those ads were really looking for an animal to be killed as they trained their fighting dogs, she said. "They look for animals that are a little smaller than their fighting dogs and then give them a razor cut and set the dog loose on them," DeJournett said. "The idea is to instill a blood lust in the fighting dog." The people who answer these ads sometimes bring their families along to pick up the bait animal, she said. "They want it to look like they're going to give this pet a good home with a loving family," DeJournett said. "The animal is really going to a short life of abuse and a horrible death." Those ads are also sometimes answered by people looking to acquire animals to sell for laboratory experiments, she said. "A lot of the problem with these abuse cases is the old-fashioned belief that animals are property and that people can treat them however they want," DeJournett said. "Fortunately, we're starting to get away from that idea and people are reporting abuse more." Prosecutors in Monmouth and Ocean counties said they pursue animal cruelty charges the same as any other crime. Neither the Monmouth or the Ocean County Prosecutors' Offices report an increase in animal cruelty prosecutions, but many of those offenses never reach the county courthouses, investigators said. "About 90 percent of the cases are heard in municipal court as disorderly persons offenses," Amato said. But the true depth of the problem is probably unknown, officials said. "I'm sure there is a lot of unreported animal cruelty that we never hear about," Assistant Ocean County Prosecutor Michael Abattemarco said. Cruelty cases that involve depriving an animal of food or shelter are generally handled as disorderly persons offenses, which carry a maximum sentence of six months in jail, he said. "When an animal is tortured or beaten, you start getting into the felony offenses," Abattemarco said. Those range from fourth-degree crimes that can bring as much as 18 months in prison to third-degree crimes when an animal is killed. A third-degree crime carries a maximum of five years in prison, Abattemarco said. In addition, because of the established link between animal cruelty and the potential for the offender to commit other more violent crimes, juvenile offenders who commit these crimes are required to undergo a psychological evaluation, Abattemarco said. "It's a matter of trying to catch a potential problem before it gets worse," he said. "The Legislature takes this quite seriously." Sometimes people lose sight of the fact that animals are living things, Amato said. "I just charged a guy in Middletown with beating three baby geese to death," he said. "The witnesses said he was smiling when he came out of the woods. When I went back there to take pictures for my investigation, the goslings' parents were laying beside their dead offspring. It was like they couldn't understand what had happened. We're trying to protect voiceless victims that can't speak for themselves."
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