It’s about time! I have been voicing my outrage for years at the inadequacies of law enforcement agencies in dealing with animal cruelty and neglect cases. The major announcement this week that the FBI is beginning to track animal cruelty is a HUGE STEP toward the law recognizing the atrocity of acts of cruelty and neglect to our animal brethren as being worthy of serious legal attention and action.
For so long, crimes against animals were dealt with as misdemeanor offenses and viewed as crimes against PROPERTY as opposed to crimes perpetrated on sentient beings who experience real pain and anguish. Slowly over the last several years, states have enacted these crimes into felony status but even so, they often weren’t taken as seriously as they should’ve been and were often relegated down to misdemeanors in plea bargains and the offenders receiving nothing more than slaps on the wrists.
But this may mark the beginning of a much needed shift: now that the FBI is tracking animal cruelty cases and giving the crime its own category in federal crime reports, the trickle effect to state and local law enforcement may mean significant change in how these cases are prosecuted. And it means that more resources will be devoted to the fight against animal cruelty and neglect. Let me say it again: IT’S ABOUT TIME!
Save Shelter Dogs
Here is the article by Wayne Pacelle, President & CEO of the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) as reported on The Dodo:
BIG NEWS: FBI to Start Tracking Animal Cruelty Cases by Wayne Pacelle
(September 17, 2014) Cruelty to animals will get its own category in federal crime reports for the first time. I got that word yesterday from John Thompson, my friend at the National Sheriffs’ Association, who told me that Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comer has signed off on including animal cruelty offenses in the Uniform Crime Report. Local agencies will also track them to report to the FBI.
No longer will extremely violent cases be included in the “other offense” category simply because the victims were animals. Just as the FBI tracks hate crimes and other important categories, we will now have critical data on animal cruelty. The HSUS has been pushing for this change in policy for years, along with our affiliates, the Humane Society Legislative Fund and Doris Day Animal League.
Before this expansion of the FBI’s focus, there was no process for capturing animal cruelty data on the statewide or national level. Capturing such data is especially difficult because animal cruelty laws are enforced by a very large number of local police, sheriffs, and humane society agents and animal control officers.
But now that animal cruelty, including animal neglect, is included in the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report, there is a real incentive for law enforcement agencies to pay closer attention to such incidents. With accurate data, law enforcement agencies will also be better able to allocate officers and financial resources to handle these cases, track trends and deploy accordingly.
The decision by the FBI is especially good news for The HSUS, because we are on the frontlines of the battle against animal cruelty in so many ways. We are upgrading state and federal laws, and just this year South Dakota became the fiftieth state to enact felony penalties for malicious cruelty, and Congress banned attendance at animal fights. Besides the thousands of cases on which we work with law enforcement agencies every year to rescue animals from animal cruelty and fighting, we also travel across the country to train law enforcement officials on how to investigate these crimes.
So far this year, we have provided training to more than 1,200 officers, representing 300 agencies, and in areas of the country where it is needed most. It is a new training program designed by experts from across the United States (including our own) and we look forward to expanding it in 2015.
I am enormously grateful for the work of the National Sheriffs’ Association and the Department of Justice in recognizing the importance of animal cruelty. This new development, which has been on the radar of the animal protection movement for years, is a practical way of cracking down on cruelty. The decision is also significant in affirming, at the highest levels of our government, that animal cruelty is a vice just like so many other violent crimes. It is the latest tangible gain in our effort to make opposition to animal cruelty a universal value in our society.
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Your thoughts?
Angels Bark 
I think that this is fabulous on so many levels. Also because there are many crimes against people that can be traced back to animal cruelty. People who mistreat animals are just cruel and I never understood them–they scare me actually–and to finally get them caught is a much needed relief for all of those animals that didn’t have a voice.
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The tides are shifting, thank God! Thanks for your love and continued support Renata! ❤
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This is good news – but so long overdue – I really never understood how these beautiful creatures – ALL creatures – could be considered property rather than sentient beings. It absolutely breaks my heart. I hope all of these are followed up and the people prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, not plea bargained down. This includes circus animals (like the poor elephants!), farms and slaughterhouses (like the poor cows and calves), zoos (like the poor giraffe), puppy mills, etc. The animal abuse is horrendous – and these beautiful animals are innocent, it is so deeply disturbing. Michele – thank you for continuing to fight for animal rights and for bringing this to our attention. ❤
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You know, like you said, this was long overdue, but I do believe that things are really starting to change for animals and more and more people and businesses and governments are finally starting to think in terms of animal welfare…certainly now more than ever before. So the shift is happening, I do believe. Though it’s not going to happen fast enough for many of us. We just have to keep up the fight, stand firm and never back down. Thanks for your love of the animals! The world would be so much more wonderful if all had a heart like yours! ❤
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