Officials pick up enforcement of animal neglect cases
State police and humane officers in the region have filed criminal charges in several cases of severe animal abuse as of late, which officials say can be attributed to increased enforcement and a more vigilant public.
Since the end of September, officials in Washington County have filed at least five sets of charges involving felonies of animal abuse.
Kelly Proudfit, executive director of the Washington Area Humane Society, said the most egregious cases that tend to attract public attention are ultimately a small portion of the situations they respond to.
鈥淲e鈥檙e dealing with horrific stuff every month,鈥� Proudfit said. 鈥淲e constantly are getting dogs out of houses. People are evicted, or go to jail, and leave their dogs to die in the house without any care.鈥�
According to Proudfit, the humane officer there has investigated 295 cases so far this year and has filed more than 110 citations. The humane society has seized 78 animals. Those are mostly dogs and cats, but Proudfit said the list also includes two lizards, two guinea pigs, a pig and a goat.
Last year the organization investigated about 200 incidents. Proudfit notes the humane society did not have a full-time humane officer for much of 2023.
鈥淚f we鈥檙e going to take something from you, you鈥檙e going to get charged. If it蘑菇视频 bad, we鈥檙e typically doing charges,鈥� Proudfit said.
Robin Gados, humane officer for Who Rescued Who Humane Society in Connellsville, said more reports of animal abuse are being made. She noted that agencies do not share a common database for these cases.
鈥淭here are a lot of summary citations being filed,鈥� Gados said.
In Fayette County, there have been about four cases of felony animal abuse in the past month. Gados said humane officers need the district attorney蘑菇视频 approval to pursue these higher level charges, and commended District Attorney Michael Aubele for signing off on them.
鈥淎t the end of the day, we have to have the district attorney蘑菇视频 approval for anything we do except summary (charges) 鈥� If he says no we can鈥檛 do anything, we have to walk away,鈥� Gados said.
Aubele said increased enforcement generally has led to more animal abuse charges, but that the public also has been more active in reporting potential cases.
鈥淚 think social media has a lot to do with it, and it蘑菇视频 a good thing,鈥� Aubele said. 鈥淲ord spreads very quickly. More and more of them are becoming public.鈥�
While humane officers often do get called to situations of horrific abuse, Proudfit says it is not necessarily the goal of the humane society to remove animals from every home they visit.
One example is an elderly couple whose dogs kept escaping their property.
鈥淲e used grant money to fix their fence 鈥� Now they can鈥檛 get loose. That saves the dogs from coming to the shelter,鈥� Proudfit said.
If there is an opportunity to educate the owner and create a better environment for the animal, the humane society will seize it.
鈥淲e鈥檙e trying to do a lot more hands-on on-site. There are a lot of shut-ins, a lot of people who can鈥檛 get to a vet office. We help them before it has to turn into a humane case, and we鈥檝e seen a lot of success with that.鈥�
Proudfit says they are also trying to be more responsive to animal neglect and abuse on farms.
鈥淲e鈥檙e trying to give them the resources they need to do better. We鈥檝e brought horse farms hay and new water troughs,鈥� Proudfit said.