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Support HB 57 for Rural Animals

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Steffen Baldwin is the President and CEO of the Animal Cruelty Task Force of Ohio (ACT Ohio), and the humane agent for Union County, Ohio.

ACT Ohio is a private nonprofit organization formed legally under Sections 1717.05 and 1702.01 of the Ohio Revised Code to operate as a County Humane Society enforcing law directly in Union County with contracts to assist Champaign, Hardin and Marion Counties. Within six weeks of initiating formal operation in late 2013, ACT Ohio had a waiting list of a half a dozen other rural counties requesting help and assistance.

The Animal Cruelty Task Force of Ohio supports House Bill 57, which would do the following:
• Requires an individual to file signed proof of successful completion of training with the county recorder before being appointed by a county humane society as a humane society agent.
• Eliminates a requirement that an agent appointed by a county humane society be a resident of the county or municipal corporation for which the appointment is made.

In the fight against animal cruelty in Ohio, county humane agents act as the “boots on the ground” when it comes to responding to complaints of animal cruelty, regardless of the species involved. Sadly, those boots are left unfilled in many rural Counties in Ohio due to low funding and Ohio’s overly restrictive laws.SkinnyMinnie

In my research prior to forming the Animal Cruelty Task Force of Ohio (ACT Ohio) in late 2013, I found that 17 of the 27 rural Counties closest to my own (almost 60%) were unable to provide this critical law enforcement function.

That means hundreds of thousands of animals have nobody to speak for them.

While it may be that 90% of animal cruelty crimes in Ohio come from urban areas, it is also likely that 90% of the resources for fighting animal cruelty is also concentrated in urban areas. It is rural Ohio that needs the most help. Puppy mills and neglected livestock are problems concentrated in rural areas.

Pirate

With funding legally set at “no less than $25 per month” and only for one agent per county, local county humane societies, already struggling to raise the funds needed to care for the revolving door of animals that come into their facilities, are also left with the responsibility of raising funds to enforce law in their community.

This results in several outcomes in rural Ohio:

The worst possible outcome is the reality in many rural Counties: there are simply no humane agents appointed to enforce law at all. Calls are rerouted to already overburdened agencies such as sheriff’s offices and dog wardens, who are untrained in dealing with animal cruelty cases that are not species-specific.

The best possible outcome is that the county hires a part-time humane agent who has a full-time job elsewhere (or wears another full time “hat” at the Humane Society, like I did as the Director/Lead Agent for several years at Union County Humane Society). This agent will inevitably be spread too thin to meet the demands of the job. Nobody can live off of $25 per month, and there is no way to respond to all time-sensitive calls that have exigent or immediate circumstances based on extreme temperatures or severe illness or injury while holding down another full-time job. This agent will struggle with finding the time to conduct follow-up calls on probationary conditions where the situation is improved without criminal charges either through medical care or by the owner providing and maintaining better conditions for their companion animals. For large criminal cases, this agent will struggle with having the time to build a sufficiently strong case to be considered by the local prosecutor, since interviewing witnesses, collecting evidence and other investigative procedures are extremely time-consuming.PuppyPics

For these reasons, ACT Ohio supports the provisions in House Bill 57. It’s about time we started taking the enforcement of animal cruelty laws seriously in Ohio. Increased penalties for abusers will be pointless without competent and capable humane agents filling those “boots on the ground.” House Bill 57 eliminates the unnecessary and archaic requirement that humane agents reside in the counties they are appointed in. From a fiscal standpoint, the workload for many rural humane agents is not sufficient to justify a full-time position. However, one full-time humane agent could easily cover two or three rural Counties and that could be their sole focus. This measure alone would dramatically increase the availability to have better enforcement of animal cruelty laws in rural Ohio.

ACT Ohio also supports other measures contained in House Bull 57 including requiring proof of completion of training and requiring a revocation of humane agents who are no longer active. Both measures would increase the legitimacy of the position by ensuring the proper individuals are out in the field enforcing animal cruelty laws.

The community at large does not benefit from rogue humane agents or vigilante justice. This bill would not have a fiscal impact on Ohio’s budget, and there is no reason not to support it.

Please consider Ohio’s rural animals and the realistic struggles that rural humane agents and humane societies endure to be able to competently and fairly enforce laws in their own communities.

To contact Steffen Baldwin, email Director@actoh.org. Follow ACT Ohio’s activities by following them on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/animalcrueltytaskforceofohio



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