Procedures for Pursuing Animal Abuse Cases

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Procedures for Pursuing Animal Abuse Cases

Quick summary: There are two separate bodies of law dealing with animal abuse. One is the civil law and the other is the criminal law. Civil law is used to obtain custody of animals from their abusers, while criminal law is used to prosecute and punish those abusers.

Almost always, the first legal action to be taken in an animal abuse case is a civil action to obtain custody of the animal(s) being abused or cruelly treated. Civil actions are much quicker than criminal actions and should be initiated promptly in order to extricate the animal(s) from the abusive environment.

Thus, when a report of animal abuse is received, the first action should be to extricate the animal(s) from the abusive environment. This can be done either by convincing the owner to oluntarily release the animal(s) or, failing that, through legal proceedings to force the owner to release the animal(s) to the custody of the applicable humane organization.

We have included the entire Procedures for Pursuing Animal Abuse Cases in PDF format for you to download. (Please email the webmaster@thln.org if you have trouble printing this document.)

Related Issues: Animal Cruelty

Related Resources: Helpful Information

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