A Bronx woman has been convicted of a misdemeanor for leaving her pit bull to starve to death in an apartment after she was evicted.
The emaciated body of Alize, a 2-year-old pit bull, was found by a superintendent in a pool of blood and feces after Cherika Alvarez was evicted from the Bronx home.
A veterinarian determined the dog had been starving for nearly six weeks, and found that stomach had been impacted by foil ketchup packets, pieces of splintered wood, very sharp pieces of plastic, and two razor blades.
Neighbors heard the dog barking and tried to contact Alvarez but she did not respond.
The 29-year-old Alvarez faces up to one year in jail after a judge found her guilty Wednesday of failure to provide proper sustenance, a misdemeanor.
She told police she left a key for an unidentified neighborhood man to take the dog, but he never did.
"The day I moved out I met with him and gave him the key to the apartment so he could take my dog," she said in a statement to police. "Honestly, I don't know his name or anything like that. He's from around the neighborhood, you know."
"I told him to take the dog out of there and I thought he did," she said.
