Police

Woman sentenced to 3 years probation in animal abuse case

Amityville arrest SCPA Riverhead puppies Swaneka Danzler
Swaneka Danzler in 1999 at age 18. (Credit: northcarolina.arrests.org)

The Center Moriches woman who abandoned two abused puppies at a Riverhead animal hospital in December 2012 was sentenced to three years probation last week.

Swaneka Danzler, 23, pleaded guilty to one count of abandonment of a disabled animal last Wednesday before Riverhead Town Justice Allen Smith, court records show. A second abandonment charge — along with two other animal abuse charges — were dropped through a plea agreement.

Ms. Danzler was arrested for abandoning the 10-to-12 week-old puppies during the overnight hours on Dec. 18, 2012 in the windowsill at the Riverhead Animal Hospital.

One of the two 10- to 12-week-old puppies died about a week later on Christmas Day from infections caused by severe mange that had covered its body. That pup, named “Nicky,” suffered from mange so severe that the Suffolk County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals said an examination revealed its skin was peeling off.

In a 2012 interview, North Fork Animal Welfare League executive director Gillian Wood Pultz described the dog as “skin and bones — literally raw meat.”

“He was just, unfortunately, allowed to get way too sick before his owner did anything,” she said.

The other puppy, Noel, survived.

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The two pit bulls abandoned at the Riverhead Animal Hospital overnight on Dec. 18, 2012. One of the puppies later died. (Credit: SCPA 2012)
These two pit bulls were abandoned in 2012 at the Riverhead Animal Hospital. One of the puppies later died. (Credit: SCPA 2012)