Staff Writer
When caring people witness cruelty to animals, they want to put a stop to it, but often they don’t know what to do. Last Thursday, March 29, Long Beach City Prosecutor Doug Haubert and the City’s Animal Care Services Bureau hosted the 2012 Animal Cruelty Conference to show concerned residents how they can rescue animals from abuse. About 140 people filled a meeting room at Sky Links at Long Beach Golf Course to hear three speakers discuss different aspects of cruelty to animals.
Eric Sakach, senior law-enforcement specialist with the Human Society of the United States (HSUS), spoke first. He began by explaining that animal hoarding is a form of cruelty. Sakach noted that hoarding has three components: keeping more than the typical number of pets; being unable to provide even minimal standards of nutrition, sanitation, shelter and veterinary care; and denying one’s inability to provide this minimum care.
“An estimated 250,000 animals in the U.S.A. are victims of animal hoarding each year,” Sakach said, adding that hoarders don’t always recognize the cruelty they inflict on their animals.”
Sakach explained that animals kept in hoarding conditions often suffer extreme neglect and live in houses that have floors, furniture and counters covered with animal feces and urine. Hoarders’ homes also often contain decaying animal carcasses and rodent and insect infestations. “Aside from obvious animal suffering, animal hoarding presents health hazards for the human occupants of the home,” Sakach stressed.
He described several cases of animal hoarding including a house containing 2,000 pet rats and a property containing 330 dogs. “The animal cruelty laws of all states have provisions stipulating minimal care standards,” Sakach said. “Legislation has been enacted in a few states specifically addressing animal hoarding.” Sakach urged concerned people to notify animal control, fire, health, social service and building code departments of suspected animal hoarding. He said that getting charged with various code violations and/or misdemeanors can help hoarders realize they have a problem— usually a form of mental illness.
Sakach also discussed dog fighting and cock fighting, which are illegal in all 50 states. He encouraged audience members to be aware of the obvious signs of animal fighting such as the noises of animals involved in combat and people taking dogs or roosters to a specific location. The HSUS officer urged everyone to report suspected animal fighting to their local animal-control and police departments.
Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Debbie Knaan, who supervises animal cruelty prosecution, spoke next. She noted that neglecting to provide an animal with adequate food, water, veterinary care, or living space is a very common form of cruelty to animals. “A person does not have to be the legal owner of the animal in order to be charged with animal cruelty,” she told the audience. She explained that keeping an animal on your property or showing that you have possession or control of an animal makes you responsible for its proper care. She also noted that failing to meet an animal’s basic needs is a crime punishable by law, even if the animal has not yet suffered harm as a result of the neglect.
Knaan explained that while neglect may be considered unintentional cruelty, purposely harming an animal is usually considered a more serious offense and in some cases can be prosecuted as a felony resulting in a prison sentence.
In her approximately one-hour presentation, Knaan described how prosecutors decide whether to treat an animal-cruelty case as a felony or as a misdemeanor. “Sometimes it’s really hard to tell,” she said, adding that in some cases even neglect can be prosecuted as a felony.
During her lecture, Knaan graphically described some very gruesome cases of animal cruelty and flashed photos onto a screen to show the serious harm that comes to animals through neglect or intentional abuse.
One photo showed a cat that suffered a broken jaw and had an eye knocked out of its socket as a result of being beaten by its owner. Another photo showed a dog with a necrotic or imbedded collar. “This happens when a person puts a collar on the animal when it is very small,” she explained. “The animal grows, the person does not change the collar, and the collar can actually grow into the skin.” She added that the condition can result in a serious infection or death and almost always requires surgery to remove the collar.
Knaan explained that her office needs evidence in order to prosecute a case. “Animal-control and police will take anonymous calls, but you need to understand that sometimes we cannot prove a case without your testimony,” she said. “In some instances the evidence on the scene is enough by itself. In other cases an eyewitness is needed.” She added that photographs and videos can also help to convict a person of animal cruelty and in most cases it is better for concerned people to not try to fix the problem until animal-control officers have witnessed it.
Knaan urged the audience members to do three things: persistently report animal cruelty until animal-control or police officers show up; get people in the neighborhood involved in spotting and reporting animal cruelty; and ask city councils to pass stricter laws for the protection of animals.
“If you see something that you recognize as a case of neglect or intentional cruelty, we encourage you to report it,” Knaan said. “If you’re wrong, so be it, but at least you have done something to get an animal out of a situation that it cannot get out of by itself.”
Sergeant Rebecca Johnson of Long Beach Animal Care Services was the final speaker. Echoing Knaan, she urged everyone to contact Animal Care Services immediately if they suspect mistreatment of animals, Johnson also stressed that documenting the incident can be very helpful in prosecution and that reports should be as detailed as possible. She added that when animal-care officers arrive at the scene of reported animal cruelty, they never reveal the name of the person who reported it. “The only time your name will come up is if we need your testimony to prosecute the case,” Johnson said. “And we will ask you if you are willing to testify.”
Johnson also explained that when animal-care officers arrive, they determine whether to file charges or simply issue a warning and come back at a later date to see if the pet owner has complied with proper care instructions.
Long Beach Animal Care Services serves the cities of Long Beach, Signal Hill, Los Alamitos, Cerritos, and Seal Beach. The agency’s 24-hour phone line is (562) 570-7387. In addition, Los Angles County has a dog-fighting tip line that offers a $5,000 reward to anyone reporting organized dog fighting. That number is 877-NO 2FITE (662-3483). Sakach, Knaan and Johnson also urged anyone witnessing an organized dog fight in progress or someone in the process of intentionally harming an animal to call 9-1-1.
More Information
longbeach.gov/acs
