ANIMAL CRUELTY / ABUSE / NEGLECT

What you should do if you suspect a case of Animal Cruelty or Neglect?

Animal cruelty encompasses a range of behaviors harmful to animals, from neglect to malicious killing. Most cruelty investigated by Humane Officers is unintentional neglect that can be resolved through education. Intentional cruelty, or abuse, is knowingly depriving an animal of food, water, shelter, or veterinary care or maliciously torturing, maiming, mutilating, or killing an animal.

Animal "hoarding" happens when someone has collected so many animals that they are unable to provide proper care for them.

STEP 1. Evaluate the Situation
When trying to help an animal you think is in an abuse or neglect situation, it is important to first know and understand what constitutes animal abuse, neglect or torture under Wisconsin law. Many people have different standards of care for their pets. While someone may not love and care for their pet as you do, it may not be an abuse situation. Ultimately, it will be up to law enforcement, prosecutors, veterinarians and a judge to determine if a particular case is animal abuse/neglect or not, but the following are basic guidelines from Wisconsin law.

Animal Neglect
Wisconsin law states that animals must have food, water, veterinary care and adequate shelter provided to them. If you discover that an animal is not getting needed food, water, veterinary care or shelter, you must report it immediately. But remember that providing food does not mean they have a full bowl all day, It can mean that they are fed a sufficient amount of food on a daily basis. Adequate shelter will vary according to the type of animal and it’s needs. You can also look at the actual Wisconsin Statutes regarding this if you click HERE Chapter 951 is the Statute that deals with Animal Abuse and Neglect issues.

Animal Abuse
Wisconsin laws address abuse in the following section:
951.02 Mistreating animals. No person may treat any animal, whether belonging to the person or another, in a cruel manner. This section does not prohibit bona fide experiments carried on for scientific research or normal and accepted veterinary practices.

Definition of Cruel Treatment:
“Cruel” means causing unnecessary and excessive pain or suffering, or unjustifiable injury or death.

If you are unsure if a situation is abuse or neglect, it is always best to report it to authorities to be sure. The Humane Officer can help you assess the situation if needed. Animal abuse can be more immediately recognizable than neglect. If you see someone abusing an animal, you may want to run over and tell the person to stop. Unless you know that confronting the person will change their behavior and not risk any harm to yourself, don’t do it. You may be putting yourself at risk as well as the animal. Instead take photographs or videotape if you can. This evidence will be invaluable to investigators.

In the case of a child or children abusing an animal, the parent(s) may be unaware of the behavior. Animal abuse has been linked with other types of abuse in the home (child abuse, domestic violence). It is better to let law enforcement investigate.

STEP 2. Report It
If you witness either animal neglect or abuse, you should immediately report it to your local law enforcement agency or County Humane Officer. If you are worried about retaliation against you, tell the Officer that you wish to remain anonymous. However, in some situations, remaining anonymous can make it more difficult to prosecute the case.

Be sure to collect details to help us investigate more quickly such as specific location and description of the animal; license plates, address and description of the home and suspected person; and nature of abuse or neglect.

A home visit by either law enforcement or the Humane Officer will determine what needs to be done to alleviate the animal's (s') suffering. Usually neglect is caused by guardians not understanding their pets’ needs. The majority of the Humane Officer’s staff time is spent explaining how to correctly care for pets. If the pet is seriously in need of medical care or obviously abused, the animal may be removed from the home and placed in protective care while the investigation is completed.

Do not attempt to remove a pet from a potentially abusive or neglectful environment yourself. This is illegal and it doesn’t solve the problem because the person can still get another pet to abuse. It’s better to attempt to educate the person and/or possibly prosecute the person to stop the cycle of abuse.

What do we need in a report?

1. Owners address – with directions to the home.
2. Name of owner – if known.
3. Description of animal(s) – breed, color, age, size, and any other information that will help to identify the animal.
4. Number of animals – not only those that suffer from neglect or cruelty, but include all that live in the household.
5. What type of cruelty/neglect was observed – no food, water, or shelter; or was there some incident or sign of injury witnessed?
6. Indicate if it is an emergency.
7. Please be sure to leave your name and phone number in case we need to call to ask for further information.
8. A Humane Officer will investigate your report. If it is an emergency, an Officer will respond immediately.

What will happen to your report?
The Humane Officer will visit the location and determine the action needed to alleviate the animal’s suffering.

Animals in distress are immediately rescued or removed. If the pet is seriously unhealthy or obviously abused, the Humane Officer may remove the animal to protective care while the investigation continues. You can help by alerting authorities if the owner gets another pet. Or if charges are brought against the owner, you can testify or sign a complaint, since neglect is difficult to prove. In the case of violent abuse, witnesses are important since the Officer did not see the violation occur. Your testimony could make the difference for the animal.

In most cases of neglect, owners are given recommendations for care and given a reasonable time limit to comply. Failure to comply results in tickets and fines. A second failure to comply may result in removal of the animal. Usually neglect is caused by owners not understanding their pet’s needs, so Officers spend 90 percent of their time explaining how to correctly care for pets. Some owners, however, neglect their pets because they simply don’t care. When confronted by an Officer, these owners may decide to relinquish the animal rather than being bothered with properly caring for it.

In cases of outright abuse, the perpetrator will be charged if enough evidence can be gathered. In these situations, witnesses and testimony are extremely important in the prosecution of any charges. But, the most important thing is the report. Even without bringing charges, just a visit from the Humane Officer will help stop the abuse.