Use education, training to combat animal abuse

An enlightening seminar last week at the home base of Angels for Animals in Green Township attracted about 100 Ohio law-enforcement personnel, lawyers, humane agents, dog wardens and others to gain a valuable education on fighting animal abuse in the Buckeye State.

The information shared and lessons learned at that event deserve to be trumpeted 100 times over. After all, when it comes to fighting the heartless and insidious crimes of animal abuse and neglect, ignorance clearly is not bliss.

The need for those in the front lines of combating terror against companion pets cannot be overstated if continued progress is to be made in minimizing incidents of torment to four-legged creatures and toward punishing to the max those who callously mistreat cats, dogs and other home-based pets.

To be sure, the Mahoning Valley has seen more than its fair share of animal abuse and neglect. Many can remember vividly the plight of Nitro, one of eight dogs that died in a tragic crime of neglect and abuse at a K9 training facility in Youngstown. Nitro’s Law, which took several years to reach enactment in 2013, carries mistreatment of kennel animals to the level of a felony crime.

Earlier this year, a Cortland man pleaded guilty in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court to newly enacted felony-level animal-abuse charges stemming from injuries – including face trauma, two fractured teeth, a swollen abrasion – to his pit bull puppy that he was accused of inflicting.

Those charges make up part of “Goddard’s Law,” which cleared the Ohio Legislature last summer to at long last bring Ohio in sync with 46 other states that have elevated many forms of animal abuse to the harshest criminal level.

Also in the banner legislative year for animal rights in 2016, Ohio enacted new laws protecting Good Samaritans from liability over breaking into a hot vehicle in which animals are in danger, another that allows first responders to treat pets immediately on the scene of an emergency, and another that outlaws bestiality.

MORE OPPORTUNITIES TO HELP

Collectively, the toughened standards and sanctions give lawmakers, humane agents and all residents more opportunities to intervene to end cycles of mistreatment. For example, participants at the seminar were told that any person is now permitted to enter a property where an animal is “impounded or confined and continues without necessary food, water or proper attention for more than 15 successive hours” and provide it with essential needs.

Many times, however, it is not wise for residents to act independently. For that reason, we hope specialized training and education for key stakeholders in the fight against animal abuse expands. Many in the state could benefit by more understanding of their opportunities and limits in lessening cruelty to animals.

The stakes are indeed high. After all, the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals found that 70 percent of those who committed crimes against animals also have been involved in other violent, property and drug crimes.

But for many of us, our pets are loved as family members, and crimes against them merit stringent punishment. That’s why police and humane officials should deepen their understanding of our state’s ever-evolving anti-abuse statutes. Then, in the name of justice for all, they must be rigidly enforced.