PLYMOUTH - Gizmo welcomed the new year by quietly starving to death in a cage stuffed into the rear corner of a dark, uninsulated Terryville garage. Bowls of food and frozen water lay just outside the 4-year-old terrier's reach, and a blanket was draped over his enclosure, which was in one of three bays in a garage shared with neighbors.
There was another blanket too. That one was so caked in feces, urine and other filth that caused Diane Verbickis, who lived upstairs from the owner for about a year, to gag when she first found the dog's body.
She knew Gizmo to be a friendly, docile dog that loved attention and enjoyed spending summer evenings outside with neighbors and other pets.
"A person came in the yard, he wags his tail and wants attention," Verbickis said. "He loved attention. He was a good dog."
On Friday, the dog's owner, 31-year-old Jessica Watson, who is accused of animal cruelty in the starving death of Gizmo, was in Bristol Superior Court where her case, which has triggered outrage and anger from animal-welfare activists from across the nation, was continued until Oct. 24.
On Friday, a small group of protestors stood in front of Bristol Superior Court, and they vowed to be there for each of Watson's subsequent appearances.
Watson, who was arrested Feb. 27, charged with animal cruelty and released on a $7,500, has relocated and couldn't be reached for comment Friday.
On Jan. 17, when Verbickis, her son and another neighbor accidentally stumbled upon Gizmo's emaciated corpse, they were shocked. They called police who determined that Gizmo was dead.
A Feb. 16 necropsy found the cause of death to be starvation - a process that can take weeks.
The garage bay in which Gizmo was discovered belonged to Watson.
"There's no way, knowing there was a dog in the garage, that I would allow it to die," Verbickis said, who owns six cats, two birds, a guinea pig and several fish.
Verbickis said Gizmo spent almost a year living inside the apartment, well-cared for and loved.
But around Christmas 2007, Watson decided to buy a golden retriever puppy for one of her children. Gizmo didn't take well to the new dog, and Watson told Verbickis she was thinking of getting rid of it.
"When she told me she was doing that, I said 'let's find it a new home,'" Verbickis said. A few weeks later, she had two people lined up who expressed interest in adopting Gizmo.
And just a mile away from Watson's 52 Burnham St. home was the headquarters of the Animal Rescue Foundation - a non-profit adoption agency that specializes in finding homes for pit bulls and other animals.
Verbickis said that Watson said she changed her mind and sent the 4-year-old dog to obedience school so it could live with the family again.
For the next three weeks, there were no signs of Gizmo.
"We all thought she got rid of it or let it back in the house," Verbickis said.
The dog's death left her bewildered and angry.
"I was sad for the dog and angry that she let this happen," Verbickis said. "Something happened, and she just completely forgot he existed."
Watson was arrested the same month 32-year-old Severino Cruz of Plainville pleaded not guilty to assaulting a pit bull terrier with a power drill, leaving the animal with multiple bore holes in its head.
The dog, named Baby, was euthanizied at a local animal hospital due to the extent of the injuries and Cruz was deported to Mexico before standing trial.
Taken together, the incidents have left animal welfare activists across the state scratching their heads and demanding justice.
"They're defenseless, and that's why it hits home to everybody. Here's an animal that can't go open up the cage and feed itself. They're only here to love us," said ARF President Kathy Johnson, who was among the protesters Friday outside the Bristol court house.
Earlier this week, Dale Bartlett, deputy manager of the U.S. Humane Society's animal cruelty campaign, sent a letter to the state attorney's Bristol office, asking officials to aggressively pursue the case.
"Most Americans own pets, and we have a close link with our companion animals," Bartlett said in an interview. "When crimes are committed on animals that are defenseless, I think the public is rightly repulsed by that."
Bartlett said pit bulls are a particularly afflicted breed when it comes to animal cruelty cases. In 1,880 animal cruelty incidents examined by the Humane Society in 2007, 64.5 percent of them involved dogs, and 25 percent of all dog cases involved pit bulls.
That's compared to just 13 percent of pit bulls being involved in dog cruelty cases in 2000.
"There are some wonderful pit bulls who are kept as pets, but too often pit bulls are acquired by people who intend to keep them as status symbols to perpetuate that 'tough guy' image," Bartlett said.
Maureen Griffin, supervisor of the state's animal control division, agreed.
"This all is a human problem, it's not a dog problem," she said. "These are absolutely wonderful dogs but unfortunately, they've gotten into the wrong hands and are tremendously abused. The breed takes the heat. Maybe people are starting to realize that these are just dogs."
With just eight state-sanctioned animal control officers, Griffin said it's up to local agencies to stay proactive in investigating, prosecuting and taclking animal cruelty cases.
That's where groups like ARF and the state Humane Society shelters come into play, said Society spokeswoman Alicia Wright.
"We definitely see these challenges, and we do also see the challenges of the pets before they get to a point where the police are called in," she said. "What we want people to understand is, 'you're not getting an object,' and that's the message we need to get across. It's not an object you discard in your life when you don't want it any more."

Adam Benson can be reached at abenson@bristolpress.com or by calling (860) 584-0504, ext. 256.