Bristol

Mother, Son Arrested for Animal Cruelty in Southington

Southington Police have arrested a mother and her son after their dog was found to have multiple health problems last month.

According to police, 21-year-old Kyle Burleigh, of Plantsville, brought a dog to the Southington Animal Control facility in June. He told Animal Control that he had found the dog six days prior.

The dog had trouble walking, had very long nails on all paws and had large skin tags on its underside, officials said.

Kyle told Animal Control that that was the condition that he had found the dog in and that he did not recognize it from the area. He also told them that he was not the owner of the dog and gave a statement on the incident, police said.

The dog was taken to a local veterinary for a medical evaluation. The vet had a record of a dog matching the description of this one being owned by Kyle's mother, Linda Burleigh, also of Plantsville.

Vet officials say the dog's name is Knight and they had last treated him in September of 2010. An examination revealed the dog was dirty with a strong foul odor, had hair loss, scaly skin, chronically infected ears, masses hanging from his abdomen, some atrophy in his hind legs and nails that had grown long enough that they grew into his toe pad.

State records show that Linda adopted Knight in August of 2010.

Officers confronted Kyle with the information about Knight. Kyle admitted that he originally gave a false statement about Knight's owner, police said. Kyle also admitted Animal Control into his home where they found dried blood on the carpet. Kyle told them that the blood was from Knight's ingrown nails, officers said.

Kyle and Linda are facing charges including cruelty to animals, failure to vaccinate a dog and failure to license a dog. Kyle is facing an additional charge of making a false statement.

Both Kyle and Linda were released on a $1,500 bond and are scheduled to appear in court in Bristol on July 23.

Knight is receiving medical treatment and experts say his condition is improving.

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