WASHINGTON — A D.C. woman was arrested Friday after her cat died from dehydration, the Humane Rescue Alliance said in a news release.
A Humane Rescue Alliance Humane Law Enforcement investigation revealed Jasmine Goldring’s cat had died from dehydration after being left alone for three weeks in an apartment, the news release said. D.C. police charged Goldring with one count of animal cruelty following the investigation.
Goldring had called the Washington Humane Society, which is now known as the Humane Rescue Alliance, in October 2015 to request someone remove her dead cat from her mother’s apartment. She told the Washington Humane Society the cat was “covered in bugs,” the news release said.
Upon arrival at the apartment, a Humane Law Enforcement officer found “very little evidence” to suggest the cat had consumed food or water in the 20 days it had been left alone, the Humane Rescue Alliance said. A necropsy later helped to confirm dehydration as the most likely cause of death.
Goldring had visited the apartment to give the cat two days’ worth of food and water Sept. 20, 2015, the news release said. She did not go back until Oct. 10, 2015, which is when she found the cat had died.
Goldring told Humane Law Enforcement officers she had left the cat at her mother’s apartment while her housing situation was in flux, the news release said. Goldring’s mother died in early September 2015, but Goldring still had access to the apartment afterward, she said.
“This is a case of extreme neglect that resulted in the suffering and death of a living being,” said Humane Rescue Alliance President and CEO Lisa LaFontaine in the news release.
