On Wednesday, July 8, the ASPCA began assisting federal and state agencies in what is believed to be the largest crackdown on dog fighting in U.S. history. The raid spans eight states so far—Missouri, Illinois, Iowa, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Nebraska and Mississippi. Arrests have been made in all eight states.

Nearly 400 rescued dogs were safely transported to a secure facility under the direction of the Humane Society of Missouri’s (HSMO) Animal Cruelty Task Force, where they will be cared for until final disposition is determined by the U.S. District Court.

“The ASPCA is determined to protect the nation’s pets from dog fighting and other forms of brutality,” says ASPCA President & CEO Ed Sayres. “Animal cruelty cannot be tolerated, and we are proud to lend our support to federal and local agencies to ensure that these abusers are brought to justice.”

At the request of HSMO, the ASPCA is lending the services of its special forensic cruelty investigation team—including disaster animal rescuers, field service investigators and Dr. Melinda Merck, the nation’s premier forensic veterinarian—to collect evidence for the prosecution of the criminal case. The ASPCA’s Mobile Animal Crime Scene Investigation Unit, outfitted with medical equipment tailored specifically for animal patients, is also on hand.

The ASPCA will also eventually assist in behavior evaluations of the dogs.

Dog fighting is banned throughout the United States and is a felony in all 50 states. If convicted of animal fighting charges, those arrested each face up to five years in prison.

Your support makes it possible for the ASPCA to rescue animals from this horrendous life. Your generosity allows our experts to collect the evidence needed to build cases against and prosecute animal cruelty offenders.

Copyright © 2009. The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA). All Rights Reserved.

Technorati Tags: dog fighting, dog fighting crackdown, stop animal abuse

MSPCA to close animal adoption center in Springfield

Three larger Massachusetts Animal shelters will be closing effective on March 31, 2009. This is a little less then 2 months, and they need your help.

The MSPCA is looking for people who are willing to adopt pets. There will be hundreds of pets in need of loving homes and woners to take care of them.

If you are a resident of Massachusetts, or other nearby state, I implore you to consider adopting one of the many pets that will be in need when these shelters close.

Contact these shelters directly:

Western New England Animal Care and Adoption Center
171 Union St., Springfield, MA 01105; Phone (413) 736-2992

Martha’s Vineyard Animal Care and Adoption Center
276 Vineyard Haven Rd., Box 2097, Edgartown, MA, 02539; Phone (508) 627-8662

Metro South Animal Care and Adoption Center
1300 West Elm St. Extension, Brockton, MA 02301; Phone (508) 586-2053

All of the MSPCA shelters are having upcoming adoption events, which can be found here: MSPCA Calendar of Events

You made it this far, you took the time to learn what an abused animal is. Perhaps you even took a stand in your community to help stop animal abuse. But there is still a few more things that you can do to help abused animals.

ADOPT AN ABUSED ANIMAL!!!

The ASPCA’s Website, ASPCA.ORG, maintains a national directory of animal abuse shelters. You will find one in your area. Every day hundreds of dogs are euthanized every day. Some dogs are simply so abused that their chances of survival are impossibly slim.

Adopting a dog may not mean that you need to keep them forever. Some pets simply need good pet foster owners to help take care of them for a few weeks while they recover. While these dogs or cats may be abused, it is not hopeless for them. They will take some time to get accustomed to living with people that care for them.

DONATE YOUR TIME TO HELP AN ABUSED ANIMAL!!!

If for some reason you cannot adopt an abused pet, then consider donating your time to a local shelter to help out with patient recovery. These dogs are under the care of the shelter, but every shelter is shorthanded and could use the help. These dogs need help with bathing, walking, and just time being with new people. I am not aware of any single shelter in the country that does not openly welcome volunteers to help with the abused animals.

Spend a week there helping out and you will see exactly how bad of a problem animal abuse has become in our society. And you might actually fall in love with a pet and adopt them anyways.

DONATE MONEY TO HELP AN ABUSED ANIMAL!!!

Ok, so you do no need to donate money per say. But It helps. Shelters need the money to pay for the stuff a dog will need. Many dogs will need the basics, such as food, toys, medicines and veterinary care. If you can make a donation of money then this can be used as needed by the shelters. If not, consider donating canned or dry dog food, pet blankets, toys and anything else that the shelter may need. So before you toss out your old bed comforter, consider donating it to help a furry friend.

JUST DO SOMETHING TO HELP AN ABUSED ANIMAL!!!

If you truly cannot afford a few dollars for a donation, or are simply so busy that you have no time to donate, then find soe other way to help. If you have to, tell someone at work about fighting animal abuse. Simply starting a conversation about animal abuse will help to raise awareness to the problem.

Heck, socially book mark this series if your reading it, and that alone will help raise awareness. The more people are taking about animal abuse, the more people who can do something about it.

Technorati Tags: abused animal, Animal Abuse

As we have discussed over the last few posts, Animal Abuse is wrong. It should be stopped and people should be held accountable for it.

Unfortunately. as big of a problem the actual abuse is, the lack of people who report it or take any action is actually a bigger problem.

Somewhere, right now, there is an act of animal abuse happening. Someone is neglecting a dog, hurting a cat, or performing some other form of animal abuse, and worst of all, someone else is watching it happen.

That’s right. Someone else knows. They either witnessed it first hand, know the person who is doing it, or know someone who does. So how come more and more cases go unnoticed every year.

Because people do not want to “get involved”. Many people are too afraid to speak up about a controversial topic. Many people fear that someone will find out they told. No one wants to be the “whistle-blower”.

In order to help anyone out there wishing to help prevent animal abuse I have compiled a short list of things you will need to know in order to report it.

The Who

No not the band, the authorities. When reporting animal abuse you need to notify the proper authorities. If you have a local chapter of the Humane Society or ASPCA then you can start there, if not contact your local police station and ask for the animal control officer. The ASPCA and Humane Society will have better resources in order to handle such a complaint. They will also generally handle the process of contacting your local police department to further the investigation.

The What

Since you might be wondering why I did not mention knowing the animal abuser’s name above, well, simply you do not need to know it. More important then telling them who is the abuser, is the actual address of where the dog is. Once a complaint of abuse is lodged, the authorities will take over the investigation into who owns the dog. It will be up to them as to who they charge, what happens to the dog, and what actions need to be taken.

The When

As soon as you can. If you see what you think is animal abuse, review the definition if needed, then report it. Do not take a week or two, or put it off indefinitely. Many animal abuser’s end up killing their animals and then graduating to humans. A common trait among serial killers was to first abuse animals. So you could not only save an animals life, but your own.

The Why

You should tell the authorities when you witness animal abuse because it is the right thing to do. On top of that, much like many other crimes, if the authorities learn that you were aware of the animal abuse or other criminal act and did not report it then you could be charged as an accessory to that crime. Thats right. You could find yourself paying a fine or doing jail time simply because your neighbor has been abusing a dog and you knew it but did nothing.

The Where

Where is animal abuse happening? Everywhere. There is not a single county in the country that can boast a Zero percent animal abuse crime rate. If they have one, then either they do not track it, or they do not know what it is. According the the Humane Society of The United States, or HSUS.ORG, nearly 40% of all American households have a dog, and nearly 40% have a cat. While not all houses have both, this is still nearly 1 out of every 2 houses. So if you have neighbors then you likely have neighbors with pets.

Without help from other people, many animal abuse cases go unnoticed and unresolved each and every day. The bottom line is that if you see animal abuse happening, then it is within your power to stop it. If you see it, You should report it.

Next Series Post Preview: Helping Abused Animals.

Technorati Tags: Animal Abuse, stop dog abuse