RISPCA investigating possible sexual abuse of dog

Feb. 28-- Feb. 28--WOONSOCKET -- Officials are awaiting the results of DNA tests in the investigation of abuse of a dog that suffered "injuries ... consistent with sexual trauma."

The dog, a female four-year-old corgi and Labrador mix weighing an estimated 50 pounds, belongs to a Woonsocket woman, according to Dr. E.J. Finocchio, a veterinarian and president of the Rhode Island Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Finocchio said that the RISPCA received a call from Ocean State Veterinary Hospital reporting the injury to the dog.

The RISPCA investigated four people, whom Finocchio declined to name because no one has been charged pending the DNA test results. The four were the woman who owns the dog, her boyfriend, a woman who is friends with the dog's owner and another man, Finocchio said, adding that the first three are from Woonsocket while the other man is from New York State.

Each of the men blamed the other man for the attack on the dog, Finocchio said

The owner's boyfriend voluntarily submitted a DNA sample, Finocchio said, while officials obtained a Rhode Island court warrant to obtain a sample from the New York man. Finocchio said a that DNA swab was done on the dog and that the tests could take two to three weeks to complete.

Finocchio said that, under Rhode Island law, bestiality is a felony punishable by up to 20 years in prison.

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