SHIRLEY, NY — A Shirley man was arrested after three dead dogs were found in an SUV early Tuesday morning, police said.

According to Suffolk County Police, the dogs were found at 5:40 a.m. in a parking lot on Montauk Highway. Seventh Precinct officers responded to the parking lot after two people observed six dogs, all Rottweilers, inside cages in a parked 1998 Ford Explorer, police said. Three of the dogs were deceased and three surviving dogs were transported to the Brookhaven Town Animal Shelter for evaluation, police said.

It was determined the dogs were in the vehicle in excess of 11 hours; the car wasn't running and there was no air conditioning, police said; heat advisories have been issued due to the soaring temps in recent days. The dogs' owner, Carmine Dapruzzo, 41, was charged with animal cruelty under the New York State Agriculture and Markets Law pertaining to the care of animals; he will be arraigned at a later date, police said.



"Never leave your animals unattended in a car in these temperatures," said Roy Gross of the Suffolk County SPCA. "The car becomes an oven in a matter of minutes, even with the windows cracked — a few minutes is a death sentence, especially in temperatures like we're seeing now." Dapruzzo, who works at a pizzeria in the shopping center where the dogs were found, told police that he left them in the car because he had nowhere else to put them,according to an NBC 4 report.

