Tonya Lee Tracy was arrested on Monday, August 30th on 5 counts of animal cruelty after a tip of dogs left uncared for in the backyard of a Goose Creek residence. Goose Creek’s Chief L. J. Roscoe was on scene to find 4 hound mixes severely emaciated and starving. After receiving an initial meal on the scene, the dogs were seized and are currently in police custody at Berkeley Animal Center where they are receiving treatment and awaiting the outcome of this case. No information as to the exact condition of each dog is available as the investigation is still ongoing.

A Goose Creek police officer visited the home of Ms. Tracy in June of this year after a loose dog was reported. The officer observed all the dogs to be in a healthy condition at that time. Today, the dogs are extremely emaciated with ribs and tail bones showing, a condition that does not happen overnight, as Chief Roscoe stated when we spoke to her. Tracy had apparently moved out of the home prior to the seizure leaving the 4 dogs behind. A fifth dog had been moved to another home by that time and was also taken into custody on Monday.

Tonya Tracy, who is in her mid-20s, has been working in animal care for several years in Charleston as well as Florida. According to everyone that we spoke with, Tonya was a great caregiver to the animals where she had worked and they had no idea that her own dogs were not being cared for. A look into her social media shows pictures of the dogs from the summer of 2020 in a healthy state and obviously loved.

The charges against Ms. Tracy are 5 felony charges of ILL-TREATMENT OF ANIMALS (Torture) which comes with a minimum of 180 days to 5 years maximum and a $5000 fine for each of the 5 charges. Ms. Tracy is currently out on bond from Berkeley County Court. A trial date is set for October of this year. We will be following this story and will update as we learn new information.

If you would like to donate to Berkeley Animal Center to help care for the dogs, please go to www.berkeleyanimalcenter.org