Alsu Ivanchenko: Woman Who Tossed Puppy From Car To Avoid Vet Care Faces Two Years In Prison


Alsu Ivanchenko put her puppy in a plastic bag and tossed her out alongside a New York railroad track. The Staten Island woman allegedly did not want to pay for the vet fees necessary to fix Snowflake’s broken leg. The puppy, a white Maltese cross, has been renamed Charlotte and has now made a full recovery. The NYC pet owner was found guilty of aggravated cruelty to animals, injuring animals, and the abandonment of animals.

Ivanchenko’s action reportedly caused Snowflake/Charlotte to suffer a fractured skull, according to prosecutors in the animal cruelty case. The puppy was tossed out in September, and the “Justice For Charlotte” movement began shortly after the world was made aware of the incident.

“It costs too much to get it treated. I couldn’t afford it. So that’s why I put it in the bag, and I put it on the side of the road,” Alsu Ivanchenko stated in the criminal complaint, the Daily Mail reports.

The Maltese puppy weighed only about one pound and was 3-months-old when she was thrown away, the New York Post reports. A passerby found Snowflake and alerted the authorities.

Snowflake was temporarily known as Charlotte, and after being adopted by a Manhattan family, she was renamed Pip. Justice for Charlotte protesters made their presence known at every Alsu Ivanchenko hearing and demanded that the Staten Island woman be given the maximum sentence allowed under existing animal cruelty laws.

Ivanchenko, 35, rejected a plea deal offered earlier this year. The deal would have put her behind bars for six months and mandated financial restitution for the care her puppy received. She will be sentenced for the animal cruelty conviction on October 27. The judge could sentence the New Yorker to two years in jail.

Matthew Myers, Ivanchenko’s defense attorney, claims there is no proof that his client hurt the Maltese puppy. Myers maintained that she merely left her on the side of the road for someone to find.

“The defendant showed utter disregard for the well-being of this helpless dog,” acting district attorney Daniel Master Junior said.

What sentence do you think the woman who threw her injured puppy on the railroad track to avoid paying vet bills should receive?

[Images via Twitter/ASPCA]

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