Cheryl McAuliffe, Georgia director for the Humane Society of the United States, met with more than two dozen members of local rescue groups, government animal control agencies, Sheriff Ronnie Strength and Assistant District Attorney Kristi Goodwin Connell in Augusta on Sept. 9. On Sept. 10 and 11 she met with more than two dozen Burke and Screven County rescue groups, Burke County Sheriff Greg Coursey and Waynesboro Police Chief Karl E. Allen.
HSUS offers free assistance to veterinarians, law enforcement agencies and district attorneys as a resource for prosecuting animal cruelty. HSUS does this by providing training in identifying, gathering evidence for and prosecuting the crimes of animal cruelty and dogfighting. HSUS also works with other groups such as the ASPCA to provide a forensic veterinarian who works the crime scenes. HSUS attorneys are a resource for local law enforcement and prosecutors for making a solid case to present at trial.
The Georgia laws on animal cruelty and dogfighting in wallet-size version were provided for each member of our city and county local law enforcement officers. On a case-by-case basis, funding for the boarding of animals that need to be held until a decision is made on their disposition also may be provided in dogfighting cases in which law enforcement is working with HSUS...
If you witness an act of animal cruelty or dogfighting, contact your local law enforcement agency. Stamping out animal cruelty and dogfighting is important to the peace and safety of our community, but it can't happen if witnesses don't come forward to demand these uncivil acts be stopped. Do your part in making our community the best community for our children and our pets.
Bruce H. Storm
Hephzibah
The Augusta Chronicle ©2010 Morris Communications, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Dog fighting and pet neglect are certainly noteworthy cases of animal abuse. The last two cases covered in the paper were about 'gator harvesting and cow harvesting...neither animal abuse. Hopefully our hometown paper will be a little more diligent in discerning between abuse and harvesting.
"Harvesting"....what a lovely euphemism.
One person's euphemism is another person's action.
Of course the laws on animal cruelty are based on, U know what and the incident with Big Ben (alligator) proves it. At the gathering, did anyone question why those good ole boys, who cut up a gator, was not charged with animal cruelty? Of course not...someone had to look extremely hard to find a loophole to not charge those guys. Why? They cut up the animal and cooked it, but the charging authority BELIEVED the gator-eater's story. Others would not have been so lucky and the exact same laws would have been applied. This is the pattern.
If they went on someone else's property, they could at least be charged with tresspassing and possibly theft.
If you're going to take a pet into your home you have chosen to take on a long term responsibility. You obligate yourself to take good care of the animal for its entire life and not just during the cute baby stage. ... As to that alligator, was it cut up while still alive? If so, then it is a clear case of animal cruelty. If not, then what evidence of animal cruelty are you alluding?
Isn't eating a good steak cruelty to aminals. He was alive before he was cut up, Right
Is delicately eating kitty on a stick really cat nip?
Yep, Cobalt, people will gobble up a juicy steak without a thought but fall to pieces because an alligator is poached. You'd have thought that the men did a 'Scarface' routine on it! It was killed, albeit illegally, then field dressed in an efficient and unique manner for food. Gator is common to find on menus in most seafood restaurants. So what is the uproar about this particular alligator?
Gator is good, yummy y'all quit makin me hungry.
The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) is a 'humane society' in name only, since it doesn't operate a single pet shelter or pet adoption facility anywhere in the United States. HSUS operates sanctuaries for large animals only, not shelters within the commonly accepted definition of shelter. During 2006, HSUS contributed only 4.2 percent of its budget to organizations that operate hands-on dog and cat shelters. In reality, HSUS is a wealthy animal-rights lobbying organization (the largest and richest on earth) that agitates for the same goals as PETA and other radical groups. For more info - www.exposeanimalrights.com