“I’ve seen a priest kicking a cat on multiple occasions,” said one caller. Upon receiving that troubling message, one of our humane investigators turned to me for guidance.
Our work is filled with tough questions and many gray areas, but this was an easy one. I asked her to respond as we would to any other report of animal abuse or neglect. We pay no attention to zip codes or occupations. Sadly, animal cruelty and neglect are equal opportunity activities, found among doctors as well as dog walkers, trailer parks as well as gated communities. We look into each and every call.
My organization, the Peninsula Humane Society & SPCA (PHS/SPCA), responds to all such calls in San Mateo County, something made possible by generous donors who fund this program with gifts ranging from a few dollars to a few thousand. This work is excluded from our contracted animal control work. I believe we are still one of the few animal shelters in the entire country that employs full-time investigators; that is, individuals who maintain Humane Officer status but can devote 100% of their time to cruelty and neglect work, since they have no regular animal control responsibilities like rescuing stray animals (we have other trained officers who do that work and do it extremely well).
Looking Out for Animals
PHS/SPCA doesn’t seek out cruelty cases. Good Samaritans call us (thankfully!) to report animals being abused or neglected, though we do occasionally encounter situations that warrant investigation in the course of everyday animal control calls. In either case, our Humane Officers turn to our investigators, much like police officers work with detectives.
Sadly, we need two full-time, trained investigators for the volume of calls received, though often the situation is not extreme. The average call is from a person who believes his neighbor is not providing adequate care for a pet, usually a dog.
Our investigators must know a lot about animals, they must know the law as it pertains to animals, but they must also know people. They must understand when a gentle approach and counseling will be far more effective than coming in with guns blazing (metaphorically speaking — our investigators don’t carry firearms).
The Law is the Law
Legally, we can’t take into our custody and rehome every animal who doesn’t have a great quality of life. We can’t even take animals who have what most people would consider a pretty empty or awful quality of life. By law, an owner must only provide food, water, shelter, sanitary conditions, and any needed veterinary care. An owner is not required to walk the dog (ever!), let the dog romp at a dog park, cuddle the dog, let the dog into the house at night, or provide the dog with any interactions with other living creatures. This is why humane investigations work isn’t for most people. It can be heart-breaking to witness sad and neglected animals on a regular basis and not have the power to change their circumstances.
Still, there are more urgent situations where a great deal more than counseling can be provided. When our investigators encounter animals with untreated injuries and/or very poor grooming, we can require that the owners take them to a veterinarian within 24 hours. Sometimes, sadly, we encounter animals in extreme circumstances requiring our immediate action. The law says we can enter a property to remove animals in danger and provide them with necessary care.
Media Matters
It’s not all that surprising that our cruelty investigations work – specifically, cases where individuals have been charged with crimes and prosecuted by our District Attorney’s Office – receives more media attention than our animal care/shelter work: adoptions, obedience classes, community education, and low-cost spay/neuter clinic, programs which have been around several decades longer. Still, we view the coverage as positive. In fact, when we have significant stories to tell, we eagerly tell them. Front-page stories build faith among the people who support our work, and they send a message that animal abuse will not be tolerated. They also give us an opportunity to explain what a unique and wonderful partnership we have with our DA’s Office, something we never take for granted.
We take great pride in the fact that our local DA’s Office has pursued nearly every case we’ve brought forward since 2005 (the year we hired our first full-time investigator), resulting in misdemeanor and felony convictions. San Mateo County residents can take comfort in knowing that their governmental agency treats animal abuse cases as seriously as their private Humane Society does.
Looking Ahead
We would love, one day, to find new roles for our investigators, here at the shelter or out in the community. There are lots of ways we can fulfill our mission of building healthy relationships between people and animals. Increased awareness of animal abuse on shows like “Animal Cops” and our own increased presence in local elementary schools give us some hope that our anti-cruelty work might be in less demand in coming years.
On the other paw, in the short term we could use a third investigator! More media attention for our cruelty work, coupled with a growing population and an economy still sputtering, could very well increase the community’s need for trained professionals who can respond to animal cruelty and abuse.
Either way, our shelter is ready.
Scott Delucchi is Sr. Vice President of Community Relations for Peninsula Humane Society & SPCA. Scott and his family recently adopted a new furry family member, a rescued Portuguese Water Dog named Murray.
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