An animal control service or animal control agency is an entity charged with responding to requests for help with animals, including wild animals, dangerous animals, and animals in distress. An individual who works for such an entity was once known as a dog catcher, but is generally now called an animal control officer, and may be an employee or a contractor – commonly employed by a municipality, county, shire, [1] or other subnational government area.
Typically animals that are found will be checked for owner identification, including checking any ID tags, scanning for microchips, and checking for tattoos. [2] Animals may be returned to their owners, or transported to a veterinary clinic or animal shelter. Animals held in the shelter can be returned to their owners, adopted, released to the wild, held as evidence in a criminal investigation or euthanized. [3]
Animal control services may be provided by the government or through a contract with a humane society or society for the prevention of cruelty to animals. Officers may work for, or with, police or sheriff departments, parks and recreation departments, and health departments by confining animals or investigating animal bites to humans.
Active cruelty to animals may be an indicator of serious psychological or violence problems. [4] [5] [6] [7] Because of these links, in some places animal control officers have begun to look for and report on other issues. [8]
The most common requirements for this job is some prior experience handling animals on a farm, as a veterinary assistant or animal trainer. [9] Training is primarily on the job but some jurisdictions (like Virginia, North Carolina and Texas) require formal and continuing education [10] available from community colleges and trade associations.
Some animal cruelty investigators are specially trained police officers. [11] The New York American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) and Animal Care Centers of NYC (ACC) employs several Humane Law Enforcement Officers with some police powers (including the power of arrest) and the Oregon Humane Society employs Humane Special Agents in partnership with the Oregon State Police who are fully-sworn law enforcement officers. [12] Throughout the United States this arrangement is becoming more common. [13]
An American colloquialism labels an unpopular politician by saying that they "couldn't be elected dogcatcher", with "dogcatcher" referring to a very low-level elected office.
In practice, animal control officers are generally appointed by an executive authority and not elected. [14] However, historic equivalents such as poundmaster, which was tasked with the control of stray livestock, and hog reeve, whose mandate extended exclusively to stray swine, were elective offices in Colonial and early American New England. The town of Duxbury, Vermont was said to be the only place in the contemporary United States that actually elects a dog catcher, [15] but electing of dogcatchers was found to be illegal in Vermont in 2018. The job was then designated as appointment-only, with Zeb Towne, the last elected dogcatcher in Duxbury, being unanimously appointed to the position. [16] [17]
The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to preventing animal cruelty. Based in New York City since its inception in 1866, the organization's mission is "to provide effective means for the prevention of cruelty to animals throughout the United States."
Pet adoption is the process of transferring responsibility for a pet that was previously owned by another party. Common sources for adoptable pets are animal shelters, rescue groups, or other pet owners. Some organizations give adopters ownership of the pet, while others use a guardianship model wherein the organization retains some control over the animal's future use or care.
An animal shelter or pound is a place where stray, lost, abandoned or surrendered animals – mostly dogs and cats – are housed. The word "pound" has its origins in the animal pounds of agricultural communities, where stray livestock would be penned or impounded until they were claimed by their owners.
A puppy mill, also known as a puppy farm, is a commercial dog breeding facility characterized by quick breeding and poor conditions. Although no standardized legal definition for "puppy mill" exists, a definition was established in Avenson v. Zegart in 1984 as "a dog breeding operation in which the health of the mill’s dogs is disregarded to maintain a low overhead and maximize profits". They are cited as being a result of increased demand for household pets, especially after World War II. The Veterinary Medical Association of the Humane Society of the United States defines the main characteristics of a puppy mill as "emphasis on quantity over quality, indiscriminate breeding, continuous confinement, lack of human contact and environmental enrichment, poor husbandry, and minimal to no veterinary care."
A humane society is a group that aims to stop cruelty to animals. In many countries, the term is used mostly for societies for the prevention of cruelty to animals (SPCA). In the United Kingdom, and historically in the United States, such societies provide waterway rescue, prevention and recovery services, or may give awards for saving human life.
The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) is a charity operating in England and Wales which promotes animal welfare.
In some countries there is an overpopulation of pets such as cats, dogs, and exotic animals. In the United States, six to eight million animals are brought to shelters each year, of which an estimated three to four million are subsequently euthanized, including 2.7 million considered healthy and adoptable. Euthanasia numbers have declined since the 1970s, when U.S. shelters euthanized an estimated 12 to 20 million animals. Most humane societies, animal shelters and rescue groups urge animal caregivers to have their animals spayed or neutered to prevent the births of unwanted and accidental litters that could contribute to this dynamic.
Animal Precinct is an American documentary reality television series that originally aired from June 26, 2001, to February 4, 2008, on Animal Planet. Set in New York City, the series follows the animal cruelty agents of the ASPCA's Humane Law Enforcement Division as they work as advocates for the five million pets and other animals in New York City, sometimes removing them from dangerous situations and pursuing arrests of those who have been accused of being cruel to animals.
The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) is an American nonprofit organization that focuses on animal welfare and opposes animal-related cruelties of national scope. It uses strategies that are beyond the abilities of local organizations. It works on issues including pets, wildlife, farm animals, horses and other equines, and animals used in research, testing and education. As of 2001, the group's major campaigns targeted factory farming, hunting, the fur trade, puppy mills, and wildlife abuse.
The Hawaiian Humane Society is a nonprofit, open admission animal shelter in Moiliili, Hawaii. Its original mission was to help children and unwed mothers, but in 1935 changed to its current animal focus.
The Nova Scotia Society for the Prevention of Cruelty (Nova Scotia SPCA) is a not-for-profit charitable society organized under the Animal Protection Act of the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. The Society is dedicated to the prevention of cruelty to animals and to the promotion of respect and humane care for animals. Its members are committed to providing humane leadership in animal advocacy, protection, education, and veterinary care.
Dog fighting in the United States is an activity in which fights between two game dogs are staged as a form of entertainment and gambling. Such activity has existed since the early 19th century in the United States and was gradually prohibited in all states. It continues as an underground activity in both rural and urban locations.
Animals used by laboratories for testing purposes are largely supplied by dealers who specialize in selling them to universities, medical and veterinary schools, and companies that provide contract animal-testing services. It is comparatively rare that animals are procured from sources other than specialized dealers, as this poses the threat of introducing disease into a colony and confounding any data collected. However, suppliers of laboratory animals may include breeders who supply purpose-bred animals, businesses that trade in wild animals, and dealers who supply animals sourced from pounds, auctions, and newspaper ads. Animal shelters may also supply the laboratories directly. Some animal dealers, termed Class B dealers, have been reported to engage in kidnapping pets from residences or illegally trapping strays, a practice dubbed as bunching.
The Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals-Angell Animal Medical Center (MSPCA-Angell) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization with its main headquarters on South Huntington Avenue in the Jamaica Plain neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1868, and is the second-oldest humane society in the United States. "MSPCA-Angell" was adopted as the society's identity in 2003, and indicates the names of its two closely related predecessor organizations: Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and Angell Animal Medical Center. The organization provides direct care to thousands of homeless, injured, and abused animals each year, and provides animal adoption, a veterinary hospital, advocacy, and humane law enforcement.
Tina Salaks, a resident of New York City, is a former special agent with the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) Humane Law Enforcement Division appearing in the "Animal Precinct" series on Animal Planet.
Animal Care Centers of NYC (ACC), formerly known as Animal Care & Control of NYC, is a not-for-profit corporation that was formed for the purpose of providing animal control services in New York City. ACC was created in 1994 to assume the responsibilities of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA), after the ASPCA decided not to renew its contract to run New York City’s animal shelter system. ACC entered into its own contract with the New York City Department of Health (DOH), and on January 1, 1995, followed the ASPCA as New York City’s provider of animal care and control services. It has a nine-member board of directors, which includes as ex officio members the Commissioner of Department of Health, the Commissioner of New York City Department of Parks and Recreation and the Deputy Commissioner for Community Affairs at the New York City Police Department (NYPD). The six remaining members of the Board are appointed by the Mayor.
The ASPCA Humane Law Enforcement Division was the law enforcement arm of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) from 1866 until 2013, when the law enforcement division was disbanded. The agency enforced humane laws, and investigated cases of animal cruelty.
The New Jersey Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals is a law enforcement agency in the state of New Jersey that focuses on humane law enforcement. The agency enforces animal-related laws and investigates cases of animal cruelty. In January 2018, Governor Chris Christie signed a bill intended to dissolve the organization and transfer animal cruelty law enforcement to county prosecutors, municipalities, and county SPCA agencies. The NJSPCA will cease law enforcement operations by August 1, 2018. The agency was disbanded in 2018 after a State Commission of Investigation Reports (SCI) showed that the agency could not account for over 700K in Attorney fees, mismanaged bank accounts, and businesses created by its board members. The agency was virtually bankrupt at the time it was disbanded due to a lack of oversight. The NJSPCA was sued in 2015 under the Open Public Record Act in which it spent 140K on Attorney's fee's. It was order on 4 separate occasions that they were a Government Agency and subject to OPRA. See Sci Report https://www.nj.gov/sci/pdf/SPCA-FollowUpReport.pdf
Humane law enforcement is the enforcement of laws relating to the humane treatment of non-human animals.
Proposition 12 was a California ballot proposition in that state's general election on November 6, 2018. The measure was self-titled the Prevention of Cruelty to Farm Animals Act. The measure passed, by a vote of about 63% Yes to 37% No.
