30+ rabbits, many dead, found strewn about Calverton; 2 charged
News 12 Staff
Updated on: Jul 14, 2021, 1:25am
Two people have been charged in an animal cruelty case where dozens of rabbits were discovered abandoned in Calverton, many of them already dead.
At least 30 domestic rabbits were found. Fourteen had already died by the time rescuers arrived.
Roy Gross, with the Suffolk SPCA, says William Melton and Kathi Willi, both of Ridge, were arrested for ditching the animals and charged with animal abandonment.
Karen Johnson, of All About Rabbits Rescue, has been rescuing animals for years and says she s never seen anything like this case.
UpdatedMon, Jul 12, 2021 at 5:50 pm ET
Replies(5)
One of the surviving rabbits found out of 30 abandoned in Calverton. (Courtesy Jackie Roche.)
16 of the 30 rabbits were found alive and are being cared for by rescue groups. (Courtesy Jackie Roche.)
CALVERTON, NY Animal rescuers say the images of 30 abandoned rabbits many dead that they found in Calverton, are impossible to erase from their minds and hearts.
According to the Suffolk County SPCA, on Sunday, Kathi Willi, 59, and William Melton, 52, of Ridge, were arrested and charged with violations of Agriculture and Markets Law Section 355, animal abandonment, a misdemeanor.
Roy Gross, chief of the Suffolk County SPCA, said that on July 5, the SPCA was contacted by a rescue group; a subsequent investigation by SPCA detectives led to the arrests of Willi and Melton, who were charged with 30 counts of abandonment of the domestic rabbits in a wooded area in Calverton.