Determining Animal Cruelty

By John Carlin
WSLS10 Anchor
Published: February 6, 2008

If there is a problem with an animal’s care, the basic question is whether it’s “animal cruelty” or the less serious, “failure to provide adequate care.”

Officer Eric Hubble with the Roanoke County Police Department animal control division tells WSLS-10 that the department gets lots of calls from well-intentioned citizens who feel sorry for dogs that are chained out in hot or cold weather.  “If the dog is fed and watered, has shelter, and no evidence of ill health, it’s likely there is no neglect,” he said.

According to state law, he said a dog only needs to be fed once every 24 hours and watered, every 12. 

In more serious cases, police have their work cut out for them.  When an animal is obviously abused, police will take pictures of the animal and it surroundings.  They will perform an evaluation of it, and give it a score of 1-10.  Hubble said they would check for things such as dehydration, exposed ribs and other obvious signs of abuse or neglect.

Then he says everything must be documented as well as it can be.  The animals are usually confiscated and taken immediately to a vet – not only for the animal’s well-being, but to further document any potential crime.

In the end he says it will be up to a judge or a jury to decide if there is sufficient evidence that the animal was abused that the owner failed to provide adequate care.