Man & Dog at Yale

Patrolman Philip Colwell was making a routine check of the treatment and disposal of stray dogs in New Haven when he found that the numbers did not jibe. Yale University's School of Medicine had bought as many as 1,700 dogs for research in a single year, all from nearby towns. But these communities had never reported having disposed of so many healthy strays in this manner. Colwell went off on a hot scent that led him, with a bloodhound assist from Connecticut state police, to the biggest dognapping scandal in the state's history. Last week the first court case came up.

Charged with practicing veterinary medicine without a license was Edward L. Iannucci, 45, listed as an assistant in research pathology in Yale's personnel directory, actually the man in charge of keeping and handling dogs for medical researchers. The accusation was that on moving dogs to Yale, he had given them injections of barbiturates to knock them out. Nub of the state's case was that Iannucci (who once ran something that he called the Junior Animal Shelter in Hamden, just outside New Haven) had bought animals from dog wardens in adjacent towns for $2 or $3 each, had then sold them to the Yale bureau of purchases, which knew nothing of their origin, for an average of $7.

Other key defendant was John Ceccarelli, 33, former dog warden of North Branford, charged with fraud by a public officer. The state's case: Ceccarelli bought dogs from other wardens (again at $2-$3), sold them to Yale for $7. Accused as primary suppliers in this neat racket were the dog wardens in surrounding towns. Warrants were out against eight of them, with more expected. Wardens get a uniform $4 fee for each stray dog they destroy. Instead of killing the animals, say the police, the wardens sold them to Iannucci or Ceccarelli, reported them destroyed, and collected their fees from the towns--hence the charge of fraud by a public officer.

Despite a slight flush of embarrassment, Yale's School of Medicine was in the clear: its bureau of purchases had bought the dogs believing them to be genuine unclaimed strays. And the school will continue to get as many as it needs, from wardens elsewhere in the state. The question as to who could now get elected dogcatcher in the towns around New Haven is academic. In Connecticut, nobody is elected; each town's first selectman (equivalent to mayor) fills the office by appointment.

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