Teen Owner Charged After Starved Pit Bull Ate Jeans, Plastic Before Its Death

An emaciated young American pit bull named Angel died of starvation late last year as a result of her 19-year-old owner's refusal to feed it.

On Wednesday, Lisa Marie Precourt, appeared in court in Sterling Heights, Mich., where she pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor counts of animal cruelty.

According to Precourt, who was 18 when the dog was removed last November by a local animal rescue group, she had recently lost her two jobs and she claimed that prevented her from being able to feed the dog. Precourt did not say why, if she couldn't properly care for the dog, that she did not attempt to find a person or organization that could adequately house and feed it.

Angel is the name given to the 14-month-old dog by rescuers at the Detroit Bully Corps. Precourt's name for the dog was Kilo.

According to the Daily Mail, the local rescue organization was made aware of Angel's plight when a neighbor of Precourt posted a picture of the dog on Facebook in an attempt to find a new home for the dog.

At the time it was rescued by the Detroit-based animal welfare group, the dog weighed only 19.4 pounds. According to rescuers, the dog should have weighed between 35 and 40 pounds for its age and size.

Despite receiving immediate medical attention from a veterinarian, Angel died four days after treatment began.

A necropsy performed on Angel revealed the young dog died as a result of extreme starvation, having suffered from a perforated esophagus caused by stomach acid that ate away at the lining of the esophagus over time.

Veterinarians also found inside the dog's stomach pieces of a plastic bowl, as well as strips of denim material believed to be from a pair of jeans, suggesting the dog had attempted to eat anything it could in the absence of food.

Angel was not Precourt's only pit bull.

A second dog named Chaos, which rescuers renamed Shiner, was also removed from the teenager last November. Shiner also was severely starved, with bones protruding from beneath the skin and being barely able to stand. The dog is recovering well according to rescuers at Detroit Bully Corps.