Alleged Gravesend Pet Dealer Arrested And Charged With Abusing Pups

Police arrested the owner of nine allegedly malnourished and neglected puppies last week and charged the man with not feeding his animals as well as 10 counts of torture and injury, News 12 Brooklyn reports.

Investigators said the pet owner, 43-year-old Shai Benattar, brought as many as 20 dogs up from Florida to his Avenue X home, where he had been selling them without a license, according to News 12. He was arrested at his house on July 20.

The puppies were rescued in June by volunteers from the Rescue City Pet Adoption Center, who received a tip about 10 “malnourished lethargic half dead puppies laying in a front yard.” A crowd gathered outside Benattar’s home, and with help from the NYPD, a member of the group was granted access to the residence and discovered 10 sick and malnourished puppies.

In a Facebook post, the group described the condition of the animals.

Upon being granted access to the house, one of the Co-founders of Rescue City realized the situation was worse than we thought: there were 10 puppies that were shown and some were very anemic, lethargic, some pups ribs close to piercing their skin, clear site of ringworm, nasal discharge, some who’s stomachs are so blown up and big that walking was difficult, and they were barely able to stand up on their own. After a whole day of negotiations with the owner of the house, and help of NYPD to facilitate a safe entrance into the house, all we wanted to do is get these puppies to safety. WE WERE ABLE TO SAVE 9 of the 10 puppies we saw, as he refused to give us one more claiming he’s “someones”.

The animals were transported to Oceanside Animal Clinic at 704 Kings Highway. Three of the dogs were in critical condition and some had ring worm and other parasites.

Four of the rescued puppies have already found new owners. The others are in foster homes and are ready for adoption, News 12 reports.

An adoption event for the remaining puppies has been scheduled for August 1.