Reporting Animal Cruelty

Animal cruelty is a crime in every state. Abusing animals and engaging in animal fighting activities threaten more than just the animal victims of these crimes.

Cruelty to animals is often a symptom of other serious threats to the health and safety of a community as a whole. And, the most egregious forms of cruelty to animals may signal future violent behavior directed at human victims.

How to Report Animal Cruelty

The police, whether state or local, are the principal law enforcement agency charged with investigating complaints of criminal activity. Therefore, wherever you live within the United States, you can report a complaint of animal cruelty, animal fighting, or any other crime relating to animals, to your local and/or state police.

In addition to the police, some states also grant authority to animal control officers, peace officers or agents of humane societies to investigate cruelty complaints, execute search warrants, and arrest the perpetrators.

• In NYC: You can report cruelty or fighting complaints to either the New York City Police Department or to the ASPCA’s Humane Law Enforcement department, which can be reached at (212) 876-7700, ext. 4450, or humanel@aspca.org.
  
  
• IN NJ: Again, complaints can be directed to the police department covering your city, town or county The New Jersey SPCA also investigates animal cruelty cases. (800) 582-5979 or fill out NJSPCA's online form.
  
  
• Outside the New York City/New Jersey area: The police department that covers your city, town or county is required to investigate criminal complaints, including complaints of animal cruelty and animal fighting. There may also be an animal control agency, society for the prevention of cruelty to animals (SPCA), or humane society that has authority to conduct these investigations.
  
  To find out if there is an agency other than the police authorized to conduct cruelty investigations in your area, visit our state-by-state list of anti-cruelty investigatory-arrest powers.
  
  
• If you still encounter difficulty in identifying the correct law enforcement agency, you may wish to contact your local shelter or animal control agency for help in gathering this information. To find your local shelter, check the yellow pages or visit the ASPCA’s searchable database of nearly 5,000 community SPCAs, humane societies and animal control organizations.

Tips for Reporting Animal Cruelty

Information you should provide:

• Provide law enforcement with a concise, written, factual statement of what you observed, giving dates and approximate times whenever possible.
  
  
• If you can do so without entering another person’s property without their permission, you may wish to photograph the location, the animals and the surrounding area.
  
  
• If you can, provide law enforcement with the names and contact information for other people who have first hand information about the abusive situation or the animal fighting activity.

Information to keep track of:

• When you call to report animal cruelty, always make sure to keep a careful record of exactly whom you contact, the date of the contacts, and the content and outcome of your discussion.
  
  
• Never give away a document without making a copy for your file!
  
  
• Make it clear to the officer that you are very interested in pursuing the case, and that you are willing to lend whatever assistance you can.
  
  Although law enforcement agencies must pay attention to anonymous reports of serious crimes, including animal cruelty, they are more likely to follow up on cases where there are credible witnesses willing to stand behind the report and, if necessary, testify in court about what they may have witnessed.

Follow Up, If Necessary

If you do not receive a response from the officer assigned to your case within a reasonable length of time, make a polite follow up call to inquire about the progress of the investigation. As a last resort, and only if you are reasonably certain that no action has been taken on your complaint, you may wish to contact a supervisory officer or a local or state government official to request action.

Please keep in mind that most law enforcement agencies operate with limited personnel and resources. Most of these agencies are doing their best to conduct timely and efficient investigations. Being respectful of the challenges they face and giving them the benefit of the doubt when appropriate will likely get you much further than premature complaints to their superiors.

Animal Cruelty on TV and Film

The ASPCA shares your concern about the media’s depiction of violence and cruelty towards animals for entertainment purposes. This area of the law is complicated. Actual instances of cruelty for entertainment purposes may well constitute crimes. However, fictionalized depictions, even of despicable acts against animals, may be constitutionally protected as free speech.

If you are offended by something you viewed, we suggest that you contact the network that aired the program, the sponsors of the program or the producers of the material in question.

You may also wish to contact the American Humane Association Movie and Television Unit at (818) 501-0123. This unit oversees the use of live animals in movies and television as part of an agreement with the Screen Directors Guild and often enlists the aid of representatives from local humane societies or animal care and control agencies to monitor such use.

Websites that Depict Animal Cruelty

The Internet delivers an astounding array of images and ideas into homes across the world. But not all of these images are particularly animal-friendly. In fact, some of what is being sold and shown online crosses into the realm of criminal activity. And in some cases, there are laws against showing and selling these images.

To report online materials or websites that you believe may display acts of actual cruelty to animals you should first contact the website host or sponsor. Major providers of Internet services, such as AOL and Google, have Terms of Service agreements that restrict depiction of objectionable material. If the material may be a violation of federal law, it can be brought to the attention of federal authorities as mentioned above.

Stacy Wolf, Esq., is ASPCA Vice President & Chief Legal Counsel, Humane Law Enforcement.