Woman accused of helping perform illegal surgery on a pregnant dog
By Cassidy Williams and Mike Cerullo
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MANCHESTER, Connecticut (WFSB) — A Manchester woman is accused of helping perform illegal surgery on a pregnant dog.
After Channel 3′s investigation aired Thursday looking into how the Department of Agriculture handles animal cruelty cases, Eyewitness News got several tips to request this arrest warrant.
43-year-old Genese Martinez was arrested this week for animal cruelty.
The arrest warrant said in June a tip came in that Martinez may have been performing surgeries on animals even though she is not a licensed veterinarian.
The arrest warrant said a dog’s owner paid Martinez $600 to perform a c-section on her pregnant dog.
One of the puppies died.
According to the warrant, the owner noticed the mother dog was in pain after the surgery.
When the dog’s owner brought the animal to a licensed vet in the days after the illegal surgery, the vet told Eyewitness News it was clear something was wrong.
The licensed vet told investigators the dog was severely dehydrated and weak, the animal’s spay incision was oozing fluid, and the sutures were spaced too far apart. She says ultimately the dog’s owner decided to have the dog humanely euthanized.
“She looked awful when she walked in the door,” said the vet. She asked to remain anonymous. “She was severely lethargic, severely dehydrated. She looked very, very sick, and based on the breed of the dog, my first question was where did she have the c-section.”
Police said Martinez told investigators she took the dog to someone she calls “Big Black Mike” who performed the c-section on a kitchen table while people smoked marijuana next to the surgical area.
Martinez would not give police more information on who “Big Black Mike” is.
Someone took pictures during the procedure.
The vet explained what was going through her head when she saw those photos.
“It was horrific. You could see the surgery was not done sterilely. The dog was not sterilely prepped,” she said. “The gloves that were worn were, like, food server gloves. They weren’t sterile gloves. Based on the photographs alone, the dog was not going to survive that surgery.”
Zilla Cannamela with Desmond’s Army, an animal advocates group, says she wants those responsible to be held accountable.
“This is so egregious and so disgusting. There is no excuse in the world for that dog to have suffered the way it did,” said
Martinez was charged with misdemeanor animal cruelty and is due in court later this month.
“I would like to see this elevated to a felony. I would like to see more charges,” said Cannamela.
Eyewitness News reached out to the Department of Agriculture to ask why the complaint and interviews happened in June, but the arrest warrant wasn’t served until this week.
We have not heard back.
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