Sheriff: Woman Left Dog To Die Out In Cold
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A 46-year-old woman has been arrested on animal cruelty charges, after allegedly leaving her pit bull outside in extremely cold weather earlier this month.
Tracy Cherry, of Calumet Park, was charged with misdemeanor animal cruelty, after Cook County Sheriff's police discovered she had left her dog outside for about 12 hours, starting the afternoon of Jan. 5.
According to the sheriff's office, the low temperature on Jan. 5 was 1 below zero, and temperatures dropped as low as 15 below on Jan. 6, never rising above 1 below zero that day.
Sheriff's officers received a tip on Jan. 16 about a dead dog in a dog house outside an apartment in the 1400 block of West 123rd Street in Calumet Park. A necropsy determined the 9-year-old pit bull died of hypothermia.
Upon investigation, detectives learned the dog had been let outside on the afternoon of Jan. 5, and was outside for about 12 hours before Cherry discovered the dog's body on Jan. 6.
Cherry was arrested on Jan. 20, and charged with animal cruelty.
She was due back in court on Feb. 3 at the Markham courthouse.