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Article Archive > Job takes toll on those who speak for animals Job takes toll on those who speak for animals Knowing they can make a difference for abused animals is what keeps them going in a really tough job, say those who handle animal welfare in the state. "When you see justice done in a court of law, when there's a positive outcome for the animals, that's a good day," says Thomas Yanisko, a certified animal cruelty investigator with the New Jersey Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Day in, day out, animal control officers and cruelty investigators see the often brutal harm done to pets, wildlife, horses and livestock. The number of cases -- thousands each year in the state -- is increasing, and more youths are hurting animals, they say. Burnout is common in a job that needs more funding. Memories of cases keep them up at night. Cases often jeopardize their health or safety. But someone has to speak for the animals, says Frank Rizzo, NJSPCA superintendent. "People start out in this because they care for animals. As they see the cruelty done to animals, they get more involved," says Terrence Clark, deputy chief of the NJSPCA, president of its board and with the agency for 30 years. Clark also is assistant executive director of the Associated Humane Societies, a nonprofit group that runs four shelters in the state and Popcorn Park Zoo in Lacey. Animal control officers and cruelty investigators must be trained and certified by the state. Some officers obtain certification to be investigators, too. Not all investigators are animal control officers. The state mandates that every municipality employ an animal control officer. Some officers work for one town or, through interlocal agreements, for several towns. Some towns contract with area animal shelters that represent a number of municipalities. All abuse cases, by law, must be reported to the nonprofit, private NJSPCA, which the state has designated the lead agency for cruelty prevention. The agency has jurisdiction across the state, says Matthew J. Stanton of Trenton-based MBI-GluckShaw, a lobbying firm under contract to serve as NJSPCA spokesman. If a case happens in one of eight counties with an affiliated yet independent county SPCA, it can be reported to the county agency. Those counties are Atlantic, Bergen, Cumberland, Hunterdon, Monmouth, Morris, Passaic and Warren. As of October, the NJSPCA had 32 cruelty investigators with 14 more in training, Rizzo says. Four of the 14 have since been assigned to the Ocean-Burlington counties zone, says Yanisko, supervisory officer for that zone. Investigators are detectives on cases that too often aren't mysteries but clear examples of the harm people do to animals that depend on them for care. Although animal control officers'initial work involves quality-of-life issues --barking or loose dogs, injured pets or wildlife -- they'e often the first to see abuse or pet hoarding. "I would say probably 50 percent of our cruelty cases come from animal control officers who uncover things," says Victor "Buddy" Amato, chief law enforcement officer at the Monmouth County SPCA in Eatontown. What happens to animals often can't be imagined. "Some of the things people do are unconscionable. Some are unprintable," says Bruce Sanchez, general manager for the Associated Humane Societies' Tinton Falls shelter and chief animal control officer, through the shelter, for 30 municipalities in Monmouth County. "One man cooked a kitten in a frying pan -- while alive -- while cooking pork chops for himself." Area cases in the last few years include a cat set on fire by a 17-year-old boy in southern Ocean County. Two dozen dogs -- some crammed into tiny crates, some with muzzles taped shut -- at a Howell home. A terrier slowly starved to death in an abandoned house trailer in Hazlet while his owner stopped by regularly to pick up mail outside. Sea gulls tortured by a 15-year-old boy and a 19-year-old man on Long Beach Island. Besides dealing with frightened, injured animals or with health hazards, like walking into pet hoarders' homes with inches-deep feces and overwhelming ammonia smells from urine, workers face another danger: people. "I've had people scream at me, try to run me off the road," says Mary Klink, animal control officer for Upper Freehold and a cruelty investigator. Threatening messages have been left for her, she says. "Any time you enforce the law, it is serious business," says the NJSPCA's Rizzo. "That's why we don't give out the towns where our officers live. We don't want to put them or their families in danger." And, the job is long: on call 24 hours a day, every day, with cases that can require hours and hours of work. "We're dispatched every day," says Scott Watkins, an NJSPCA investigator for the Ocean-Burlington counties zone. "A lot turn out to be neighborhood conflicts, which unfortunately take us away from important cases. But we investigate every case." "I never get caught up. It's a job where you never get caught up," Yanisko says. "I think they do a good job -- animal control people," says Joan Enright of Sea Girt, who owns three dogs, two of them rescues. "But I think they're stretched very thin." "There's never enough funding for animal care," agrees Sanchez of the Associated Humane Societies. Sanchez supervises three officers at the Tinton Falls shelter, which took in 1,854 cats and 954 dogs in 2005. "I do the best that I can with what I have to work with. All of us do." The job takes animal welfare workers into homes in all areas. Each case is different. "When I first started doing this, I thought Ocean County was a fairly affluent county, and there wouldn't be a great need for this kind of work," Yanisko says. He and his wife, Dawn, also an SPCA investigator, have been with the agency for about six years. "But I've found out that animal abuse and neglect crosses all social, economic and ethnic boundaries. "Sometimes you can investigate a case in one visit. Sometimes you have to go back five, six, seven, eight times," he says. "If it's something that doesn't look like it was intentional, we'll give people a chance to correct the situation. A big part of our job is education." It's a myth that investigators want to seize animals, he says. "We don't like to take people's animals. That's a last resort. We would rather force you to do the right thing through warnings and making you comply with the law," Yanisko says. People can be issued warnings, charged with a disorderly persons offense or charged civilly and criminally. Penalties include fines, jail or prison time, community service, psychiatric evaluations and/or counseling, and restitution for the cost of the investigation and caring for and/or euthanizing the animal. Now, penalties are decided at judges' discretion. Two pending bills in the Legislature would define and strengthen penalties. "A warning is what we give out the most. I would rather you take the money you'd pay for a fine and put it into vet care or proper food," says the Monmouth County SPCA's Amato. Warnings are always followed by repeat visits, he says. "Sometimes people think they don't have to listen to what we said or address our warnings. We will be back, and we're not afraid to prosecute to the fullest extent of the law," Yanisko says. No matter the situation, keeping emotional control is crucial, they all say. "You have to. It's something that clicks in," Watkins says. "It's like playing poker. You can't show your hand, you know?" But the cases and the hours take a toll. "Burnout is common. People in this profession tire quickly," says Michael Melchionne, chief animal cruelty investigator for Stafford and president of the New Jersey Certified Animal Control Officers Association. "Our 'product' is alive and breathing. It doesn't sit on a shelf unattended. It requires care 24 hours a day," he says. "Above all, we deal with life-and-death issues and emotional issues on a repeated basis. "Keeping this in perspective, we have people on the street without homes and people who need medical care. People are a priority, but it doesn't lessen the importance of what we do." |