Naugatuck police have been investigating a severe case of animal abuse after a dog was found in May with a chain growing into its neck and said they have arrested the dog's owner, a 38-year-old Waterbury man.
Justice, a Siberian Husky, was found on Platts Mill Road in Naugatuck, near the Waterbury line, on the afternoon of Saturday, May 13.
The people who brought the animal to authorities coaxed it into a vehicle after they saw that the dog was having trouble walking and had a 28-inch chain embedded into its neck.
Justice, who also had a fever, was taken to Central Valley Animal Hospital and the chain was removed.
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He is in the care of Naugatuck Animal Control and police said Justice is not available for adoption because of the legal process, but they are looking for a foster who has experience with Huskies.
Police held a news conference earlier this year and asked for help to identify the people responsible and that led to a tip from someone who told authorities that the dog's owner lives in Waterbury and described the conditions the dog had been living in.
The tip came in June and the person who contacted police said the dog had been kept in a shed without walls at the back of a property on South Street in Waterbury and it had been yelping and clawing at the shed walls.
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Police said the dog's owner had admitted to using a chain as a collar for the dog before giving the dog away to a passerby in May.
The dog's owner, 38-year-old Emanuel Pizarro-Boria, of Waterbury, turned himself in to police on Sept. 19 and he has been charged with cruelty to animals, roaming dog and no rabies vaccination. Bond was set at $50,000.
Police said he is prohibited from owning or caring for animals.
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