For many people, animals are like family. The same goes for Madison Township resident, Lester DeSalvo.  

  On October, 17th his beloved dog Annie died unexpectedly, while his other dog Zenia, got very sick, but survived.  Both dogs showing symptoms of foaming at the mouth and bleeding.

  Now, his neighbor is accused of poisoning the dogs and DeSalvo wants justice.

  "My one neighbor told me to call police, so I told him about the neighbor over here, shooting at the dogs awhile back," an emotional DeSalvo said. "I thought they were poisoned, so I called the vet and the vet said ti could have been antifreeze or rat poisoning to make them act like that."

  "Rat poisoning was found in his garage and bags were found a long my fence," DeSalvo said, referring to his neighbor David Burrell, 69.

 After a visit to the vet, it was determined that Zenia had been given rat poisoning, according to DeSalvo.

  Burrell is charged with two counts of criminal damaging and two counts of injury to animals. The 69-year-old is accused of sprinkling rat poisoning over his neighbor's fence, killing 9-month-old Annie and making Zenia, another puppy, very ill.

  "If he had a problem, he could have called the sheriff or the dog warden. He could have called any body, but did what he did," DeSalvo said through tears. "He told me he liked me, then the next thing you know, he poisoned my dogs."

  WMFD Reporter stopped by David Burrell's house at 2024 Ashland Road, however after knocking for a few minutes, no one came to the door.

 DeSalvo lost another dog unexpectedly over a month ago, and is now wondering if his neighbor had anything to do with the death of the yellow lab.  DeSalvo misses Annie, a terrier/Labrador mix, but is finding comfort in his friend, Zenia, who survived.

  "You can't replace a dog," DeSalvo said. "You can go get one for free somewhere, but it's not going to replace MY dog."

  David Burrell's attorney entered a not-guilty plea in advance of his Thursday arraignment in Mansfield Municipal Court.