| What
to do if you see a situation where animals are suffering and you
think the law is being broken
• Make sure
you have your facts straight.
• Be prepared
to state the exact address and location of the animals, exact details
of the situations (do not exaggerate or use colorful language, be
very specific about the animals’ situation and related suffering),
the last time you saw them (it is very important to call when you
witness a situation, if you delay a few hours or a day or a week,
the situation could be temporarily improved - as in weather related
cases, or the animal/s may be severely injured or dead).
When you call animal
control or law enforcement:
Don’t over react.
Be prepared to work WITH animal control and let them do their job.
Allow appropriate time to respond. Be respectful and polite.
(Stop and think -- Who would you rather work with?
Someone who is pleasant and professional or someone who is demanding
and angry? Which attitude will get better results for the
animals??)
• Try and
be brave enough to offer your name. You are the only voice
the animals have. Tips from actual sources are better
received than anonymous sources. If you must remain anonymous,
explain your fear of retribution and remind law enforcement they
get reliable anonymous tips all the time from people reporting crime,
the location of criminals, drunk drivers, and child abuse victims.
• Be prepared
to cite the laws that you have witnessed being broken (copies of
local ordinances and state laws are available through the mayor’s
office, county clerk’s office, attorney general’s office,
or APNM – www.apnm.org). Many law enforcement officers
are not familiar with animal laws - so make the information accessible
to them.
• Request
that the case be given a case number and request that a report be
written, even if formal charges are not filed. This will allow
you to follow up on the action taken on the case more easily and
request copies of reports. This also creates a paper trail
for repeated abuse scenarios.
• Let the
officer know you expect charges to be filed if the law is being
broken. Law enforcement can always stipulate on the ticket
that the charges will be dropped if conditions improve in a reasonable
amount of time (i.e., failing to provide a dog with shelter is against
the law, a ticket can be written and the charges dismissed if the
dog gets adequate shelter within 24 - 48 hours). Owners can
release custody of animals in place of charges.
• Ask if
you need to file a formal complaint for the situation to
be investigated or charged. Be brave enough to follow through.
• Tell the
officer you expect animals who are in immediate distress: an untreated
injury; a dog without shelter during a storm or extreme weather,
to be taken into protective custody. There is no excuse
not to do this -- a local vet, shelter, or foster home can take
the animal until conditions are improved or the case is resolved
in the courts.
• You may
have to remind them that just because “everyone else is doing
that” the law still needs to be enforced. Drunk driving
and domestic violence were once ignored because “everyone
was doing it”.
• Request
follow up on the situation if the animal is left there and no charges
are filed.
• Make sure
to follow up on the case and request a copy of the reports or charges.
This helps with accountability and, if you have to report the incident
again, you can refer to previous action taken.
• Laws and
ordinances that protect animals have to be given equal consideration
to other laws. Law enforcement cannot arbitrarily decide which
laws they will enforce.
Who to call:
Follow recommendations in APNM’s “Quick
Guide”.
Generally for domestic
animals in the county call Animal Control and/or the Sheriff’s
office. In many cases, the Sheriff’s department will
be charged with enforcing animal ordinances or may also wear the
Animal Control Officer hat.
Generally for domestic
animals in the city limits, call Animal Control or the Municipal
Police Department.
If the situation cannot
wait for a response from animal control departments who are not
acting you can try calling the State Police.
For cases involving livestock,
call the Livestock Board.
If you don’t get
any response, contact department supervisors. If you still
don’t get a response, call the supervisor’s supervisor.
Document any lack of response in a letter form and send it to department
supervisors – you may want to cc (send a copy) city or county
managers, city councilors or county commissioners, city or county
attorneys and city or county risk management departments.
Creating a paper trail in a dysfunctional system to alert management
and decision makers about shortcomings is inherent to fixing the
problem – make sure you allow adequate time to respond
and have your facts straight before pursuing this course of action.
Use the least amount of pressure necessary to fix the problem.
Often one phone call can change a situation.
-- Unless this is
an immediate life or death situation that is not being addressed,
please give all of these agencies/people adequate time to respond
and act on the call you’ve
made and the information given. Use
media as a last resort and only for extremely urgent cases that
are truly being handled incorrectly or inadequately. Don’t
misuse the power of the media for situations that could be handled
in another way.
If there is still no
action taken, consider calling print and broadcast media.
Ask to speak to a reporter. Explain the problem with the animal/s
and the lack of action by law enforcement. You can remain
anonymous with media, but you may want to arrange a time to call
them back in case they have follow up questions. Always
allow agencies a last chance to respond before contacting the media.
Again -- make sure
you have your facts straight. Consider this:
A case of starving horses
was reported repeatedly to one agency and the horses were actually
rescued horses who had just been removed from a cruel situation
and were being rehabilitated.
A dog with a dangling
leg was reported to several agencies. When asked to describe
which leg was injured, the complainant referred to it as “the
leg with all the stitches” -- the dog had been hit by a car,
had already been taken to the vet, and was receiving treatment.
In most cases, the
only way to achieve a better situation for an animal is:
Act
quickly. Be persistent but pleasant.
Know the law.
Don’t
let your emotions interfere with the factual interpretation of the
case.
Be
persistent!
Related articles:
New
Mexico Animal Law Online
Know the law: city and county animal ordinances
New Mexico Animal Resources Guide
Statewide animal services and Government Agency Directory
How
to investigate a case of animal cruelty
|
