by Rena Sherwood

Created on: November 07, 2008   Last Updated: July 27, 2009

When you suspect that there is animal abuse going on in your neighborhood, job or other location, it can make you feel powerless. It's a bit like being a witness to a murder. You have a grave responsibility to report what you know, but you fear that if you say something, you may get hurt. However, you are not powerless and you won't necessarily get hurt. There are things you can do to help the animals you think are being abused.

Keep Records

The best thing you can do is to keep through records of what you observe. Get any notebook and note the dates, times and everything you can remember. Try to stick to the facts and not embellish anything. This isn't the Great American Novel here, but a record to help prosecute the suspected animal abuser.

If you can take photos or video, please do. But don't do anything that could get yourself physically hurt. You also don't want to break the law by sneaking onto someone's property to get photos. Being arrested for breaking and entering won't help the animals any.

And please, make copies of everything. This way, in case a group working with you loses the records, you have a back up copy.

Don't Go It Alone

You should not confront the suspected abuser, especially if you live next door, because you never know if the person you are confronting is carrying a concealed weapon. What you need to do is contact the police. If you live in England, please contact the RSPCA to help you. Even if you contact the police, they will usually get you in contact with the local branch of the RSPCA.

Some cities in America now, such as Philadelphia, have an anonymous tip line to report suspected cases of animal cruelty. These are set up the same way as anonymous tip lines for anyone who was a witness to a crime or child abuse. If you do live in America, please get in contact with your local humane shelter, the ASPCA or an animal control officer. If you are not sure if you have these organizations in your area, please contact your local police station. They can help get you connected.

Don't Steal The Animal

It can be very tempting to just take the animal suspected of being abused physically out of the situation as best as you can. Unfortunately, this can make things worse for the animal and make your life a living hell. Animals are considered property in the eyes of the law, so stealing a dog or cat is treated in the eyes of the law as stealing a car or computer. Your protests will go unheeded if you are caught stealing the animal.

Although the wheels of justice roll slowly, they do roll on. The reason why they are so slow is to make sure the case against the suspected abuser is air-tight. Cooperate with the police or animal control officers and share your photos, film and records with them to help them prosecute. Successful prosecutions send a clear message out to animal abusers everywhere that animal abuse will not be tolerated.

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