Humane society?

[Snuggles]

Does your humane society or local dog rescue take care of "puppymill" problems?
We have neighbors, who breed for money, not the temperment or the betterment of the dog. They are gone for long periods of time, barely feed thier dogs, and their water is always dirty. Due to no attention, the dogs bark all the time. These dogs deserve a better home, but we have done everthing, and the only thing left is to take big action. Out humane society isn't doing what they should.. does yours?

[Cincy'sMom]

The problem that most rescue groups, humane societies and even animal control runs into is that most states require ONLY, that a dog has food, shelter and water. Many times, if the dogs have these three things, and are not obviuosly being beaten or otherwise abused, they can not do anything. It is sad, and unfortunate that the law does demand anything better for animals then that.

[DaisyMcCat]

Most humane societies have no legal power, so they have no way of shutting down puppy mills.

What exactly do you think they "should" be doing?

[mugsy]

Geez our animal control has legal jurisdiction over everything here! I can't STAND them. Federal people can come in though and shut them down. I will check with my resources and let you know.

[DaisyMcCat]

Animal control is a division of a police force. It has nothing to do with the Humane Society.

[Twisterdog]

Here is the way it works here, and in a lot of places:

The city or county, or both, set up an "Animal Control". It is likely to be a branch of the police or sheriff's office. Animal Control is funded through tax dollars, and has jurisdiction to enforce laws related to animals. The laws passed vary greatly from city to city or county to county. There is usually a minimum though, and that is some basic level of care required. Here, for example, animals must have food, shelter and water. That's it. And the definitions are very loose ... for example, and a barrel turned on it's side counts as "shelter", even though it easily gets 20 degrees below zero here. Our county also has a law stating that your animals can't be off your property. That's it for the county. Our city has a few more - your animals must be confined or leashed, they can't be too noisy, etc.

But Animal Controls can only enforce the laws on the books. They only way to change what AC's can and can't do is to petition for different laws to be passed, go to city council or county commision meetings, etc.

A Humane Society, on the other hand, can be anything. Anyone can call themselves a "humane society". The best HS's are real tax exempt (501c3) organizations, with actual shelter building, boards of directors, etc. But they usually have no legal jurisdiction, they are private organizations. Much like a daycare has no jurisdiction to take someone's kids away from them. The worst HS's, sadly, are often a collector who thinks they are helping, when they, in reality, have forty dogs, sixty cats, two goats and a horse housed in a single-wide trailer. (True case from my county, BTW.)

Your first step needs to be to research which laws are actually on the books, if these people are violating any of them, and who enforces them. Your next step is to get proof. Tape record the dogs barking, take pictures (without tresspassing, obviously!) and call the authorities.

[tatsxxx11]

Our Animal Control officer is fantastic! We have very strict laws "on the books" regarding animal care here and they ARE enforced! I think she knows every dog in town, by name!:) But the good thing is, when there is a complaint, a problem, she works with the family/owner to correct the problem/educate them and does extensive follow up. Only as a last resort. or if the animal is being abused or severely neglected is it removed from the home. She's awesome!:)

[oodlesofpoodles]

I am a Special Enforcement Officer with the Police Dept. for Animal Control. Every City, County and State has different laws, but the Dept. that generally hands out the licence for a kennel is the Ag Dept. (at least in GA.) That generally is the place to make a complaint with. They also go out on the back yard breeders also. Try them. You may get some action. Let me know.