Alan Sash Defends Suffolk County Long Island Dog Rescue Group Under Threat of Closure

By Andrew Smith | NewsDay

A Calverton dog rescuer and the state attorney general’s office are going to try — with prodding from a Suffolk judge — to find a way for the rescuer to remain open during an investigation of claims that sick dogs were adopted, in an attempt to avoid dozens of other dogs being euthanized this week.

“We’re working on trying to resolve that issue,” state Supreme Court Justice Andrew Tarantino Jr. said Monday. If Precious Pups, the rescue group under investigation, is shut down, the approximately 50 dogs a week it gets from kill shelters in Texas and South Carolina will be put to death, said the organization’s attorney, Alan Sash of Manhattan.

Sash said the group would accept any government monitor the attorney general’s office wants and would agree to unannounced visits any time. Both sides will return to court tomorrow to attempt to find a solution.

After leaving court in Riverhead yesterday, owner Laura Zambito returned to Precious Pups, where one room with a about 20 chihuahua mixes vigorously greeted her from their crates.

Assistant attorneys general in the case did not comment, insisting that court officers escort them to their cars for their safety. Other than Sash and Zambito, the only people outside the courtroom or in the parking lot were three journalists.

Sash said the dispute began with complaints by people who adopted dogs from Precious Pups and said they came in poor condition with falsified veterinary records. The attorney general’s office began investigating and subpoenaed records from Precious Puppies, he said.

Sash said the group, acting on poor legal advice from previous lawyers, ignored the subpoena. Last week, the attorney general’s office got a temporary restraining order preventing Precious Pups from adopting out any of the 80 dogs it has now or accepting any new dogs.

Sash said the group has now turned over all the records the state sought, so he said there’s no reason to allow dogs coming from out of state to be turned back and killed.

“We’re just trying to make it so easy for the attorney general’s office,” Sash said. “We have nothing to hide.”

One of the veterinarians who treats Precious Pups dogs, Russ Star of St. James Animal Hospital, came to court in case he was needed to vouch for the group. He said he’s seen no sick dogs leave for adoption.

Sash said the state has 20 complaints, out of the approximately 1,500 adoptions made by Precious Puppies in the past three years, but Assistant Attorney General Rachael Anello said in court the number of complaints has since doubled.

“We’re not here to resolve the entire case today,” Tarantino said. His goal was to avoid the needless euthanization of dogs, he said. “Let’s avoid having them euthanized because of failure to comply with subpoenas.”