Dozens of abused animals rescued
from Bensonhurst basement
BY ROSE ADAMS
Acting on an anonymous
tip, authorities found nearly
40 starved animals living in
dreadful conditions in the
basement of a Bensonhurst
house on March 8, according
to police.
The tipster told the American
Alliance for the Protection
of Animals (AAPA) that a teenager
boy had been hoarding
and mistreating animals in
the 76th Street house between
20th and 21st avenues, leading
authorities to search the
premises — where they found
21 cats, six dogs, two ducks,
two pigs, two ducks, two turtles,
and four mice, according
to AAPA.
A video shows the animalrights
rescuers searching the
home after they boy’s mother,
Maryann Carollo, allowed
them inside — where they
found dozens of starving animals
that supposedly haven’t
seen light for over two years.
On the ground fl oor, rescuers
saw two pigs, three dogs
and a cat kept in fi lthy cribs —
which were ostensibly meant
for the make-shift daycare center
that the family operates out
of the building’s ground fl oor.
In the basement, activists
found the 37 emaciated pets,
as well as dead animals, feces,
COURIER L 28 IFE, MARCH 20-26, 2020
and a powerful odor, according
to the rescuers, who say they
found the carcass of a cat who
appeared to have been eaten by
the other animals.
“We were hit with such a
strong smell of ammonia that
we had to breathe through our
clothes,” wrote members of
AAPA in a letter to Attorney
General Letisha James. “The
fl oor was covered with feces,
garbage, mold, debris, dead animals
all mixed together with
about 21 cats roaming around,
starved and malnourished.”
The boy and his mother
admitted to keeping the animals
locked in the basement
for years, according to the letter
— but they’d scrubbed the
basement of the most damning
evidence by the time police
conducted a thorough inspection
on March 8.
“Police offi cers arrived at
approximately 3 pm and went
inside the basement, at which
point all the evidence was
gone, but the smell of ammonia
mixed with dead animals
and all aforementioned debris
still remained so intense that
some police offi cers couldn’t
go inside,” the animal activists
wrote.
Police sent the teenaged boy
to a local hospital for a psychological
exam, but no arrests
were immediately made, a police
spokeswoman confi rmed.
After members of the AAPA
relocated the pets to undisclosed
locations, they fi red off
the scathing letter to James —
in which they panned the allegedly
slow response from NYPD
offi cers, and the lack of cooperation
from law enforcement
throughout the ordeal.
“We ask for your assistance
due to the fact that NYPD egregiously
mishandled this case
and failed to follow the protocol
in order to prosecute all the involved
perpetrators to the fullest
extent of the law,” the letter
reads. “We believe the perpetrator
will do this again, based
on multiple witnesses testifying
to this fact, as the family
owns multiple locations in
Brooklyn and Staten Island.”
Representatives of the daycare
center at the location declined
to comment. The Carollo
family could not be reached for
comment.
A Brooklyn animal rights group rescued 37 sick and starving animals
from a Bensonhurst basement. Photo by AAPA
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