Portsmouth Man Sentenced to Serve Jail Time for Starving Dog to Death

PETA Found and Rescued Live Dog Trapped in Crate With Body of Dead Canine

For Immediate Release:
February 11, 2014

Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382

Today, Portsmouth resident Adriane Mason was sentenced to 12 months in jail (six suspended) and three years of supervised probation—during which time he’s prohibited from owning any animals—in a case that first went to trial on September 24 and involved the death by starvation of Dynasty, a 4-year-old pit bull whom Mason had deprived of care, food, and emergency veterinary treatment. Volunteers with PETA’s Community Animal Project had visited Mason’s residence while delivering straw bedding during freezing weather to “outdoor dogs” and discovered the small plastic crate—which had heavy objects pushed up against it in an apparent attempt to hide the animals inside—containing not only Dynasty’s lifeless, emaciated body but also a dog named Blue, who was desperately hungry and thin but still alive. Mason was also ordered to pay PETA restitution for its out-of-pocket expenses related to Blue’s care and Dynasty’s postmortem examinations.

“Mason can never undo the suffering that he caused these dogs, but PETA is pleased that he will serve time for such cruelty,” says PETA Senior Vice President of Cruelty Investigations Daphna Nachminovitch. “PETA encourages anyone who sees animal abuse or neglect to report it to authorities immediately because, as Blue’s case proves, it can make the difference between life and death.”

“This is the type of case that gives the court pause,” Judge James A. Cales Jr. said during the sentencing. “I am mystified. I am dumbfounded that you did what you did.”

PETA obtained veterinary care for Blue—who was also suffering from malnutrition and had yellow-stained paws from being forced to stand amid his own waste—before transferring him to the Virginia Beach SPCA, from where he was adopted. PETA also had a necropsy performed on Dynasty, which revealed that she had desperately tried—and failed—to sustain herself by eating straw. She was also found to have been suffering from an untreated fractured femur.

For more information, please visit PETA.org.