{"id":402878,"date":"2026-09-17T21:16:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-17T21:16:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/402878\/"},"modified":"2026-09-17T21:16:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-17T21:16:11","slug":"vero-beach-animal-hospital-manager-accused-of-reclaiming-cats-abandoning-them-outside","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/402878\/","title":{"rendered":"Vero Beach animal hospital manager accused of reclaiming cats, abandoning them outside"},"content":{"rendered":"

VERO BEACH, Fla. (CBS12) \u2014 A Vero Beach animal hospital manager was arrested after investigators said she reclaimed two cats from the Humane Society of Vero Beach<\/a> and Indian River County, then abandoned them outdoors without care.<\/p>\n

Deanna Rae Wesley, 43, was arrested Sept. 15 on an active warrant charging her with two counts of animal abandonment, both first-degree misdemeanors, according to Indian River County<\/a> court records.<\/p>\n

Animal Control investigators said Wesley, who works at Dr. Dan\u2019s Animal Hospital<\/a>, picked up two white-and-brown tabby cats from the Humane Society on Sept. 8. Wesley reportedly told staff the cats were being returned to a caregiver, but she would not identify that person, the affidavit said.<\/p>\n

The next day, Animal Control received a complaint about a white-and-brown tabby cat crying at a resident\u2019s front door. Investigators said the cat was taken to Animal Control, where its microchip and Humane Society staff confirmed it was one of the cats Wesley had picked up.<\/p>\n

An investigator said Wesley initially denied it was the same cat but acknowledged the matching microchip <\/a>number. According to the affidavit, she declined to explain how the cat ended up loose at the home.<\/p>\n

The resident told investigators that a woman matching Wesley\u2019s description, wearing a Dr. Dan\u2019s T-shirt, spoke with her mother and warned her to watch out for Animal Control in the area. The woman allegedly called the cats \u201ccolony cats,\u201d the affidavit said.<\/p>\n

See also: Amazon closes Port St. Lucie warehouse for major renovation, hundreds impacted by layoffs<\/a><\/p>\n

Animal Control recovered the second cat at the same residence Sept. 11, investigators said.<\/p>\n

Both cats were described as extremely friendly, with debris on their faces and chins. Investigators said the cats were not capable of surviving outdoors on their own and that no one was known to be caring for them.<\/p>\n

The warrant alleges Wesley abandoned the cats on a public street without providing care, food, protection or shelter. A judge set bond at $250 per count, for a total of $500.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"VERO BEACH, Fla. (CBS12) \u2014 A Vero Beach animal hospital manager was arrested after investigators said she reclaimed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":402879,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[171,173,172],"class_list":["post-402878","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-port-st-lucie","tag-port-st-lucie","tag-port-st-lucie-headlines","tag-port-st-lucie-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402878","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=402878"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402878\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/402879"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=402878"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=402878"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=402878"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}